Fragments
by HGF34567
Summary: Katniss Everdeen has been through a lot in her 15 years of life. after getting herself checked into a mental facility, all she has left are fragments of what life was. high school, drama, dating, and danger are about to change her life forever. Modern times, Rated T for language and some content.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Katniss looked at the knife in her hand once more. She thought it over again and again, asking herself if she was really sure about her next decision. She didn't have anything to live for anymore. Her mom never even acknowledged that she was alive, she had no friends, and the pressure of passing 9th grade was too much to deal with. She had made her decision.

She pressed the knife blade against the inside of her wrist hard enough to draw blood and winced silently. She watched blood trickle out and started crying silently. She instantly felt guilty about leaving Prim behind with their neglecting mother. But their mother liked Prim, no Prim would be ok.

She was about to slash into the other side when her mother opened to door to her room and walked inside. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" her mother yelled. Prim rushed into the bedroom and started sobbing. 'What happened?' she signed. She couldn't hear all of Katniss's yelling and Katniss was for once grateful that she was deaf.

Her mother gave her a hard slap to the face and pulled the knife away from her. She whipped out her phone and called 911 instantly. Her mother hit her again and started sobbing. "You're so stupid!" she said. Soon, when Katniss had lost a lot of blood, the ambulance arrived.

After quickly reviving her, Katniss's doctors had her issued to stay in a mental facility across the country for a couple of years. Her mother was silently glad to be rid of the stubborn, ignorant girl. Prim was given the news by a sign language interpreter and signed 'I'm not letting them lock you up!'

But Katniss's bags were packed and she was issued to a hospital in Florida.

Her mother and sister could only visit twice a month, but Katniss knew that with how much money they had, it would be more like twice a year.

She would go to school and be treated like a normal kid. She was issued to go to a normal public school in 2 months, and was to be treated like she was living in a resort instead of a home.

Since then, everyone and everything had changed.

**Thanks for reading the prologue. I know it was short and kind of slow, but the actual story will actually be a lot better. Please honestly review, don't lie to me. If it sounds like it's gonna suck or something, I promise it's going to get better. The next Ch. Should be up by 4 today. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

Fragments Chapter 1

Katniss's POV

I rummage through the medicine cabinet until I find my medicine. I pop the pill into my mouth and go join Annie, my roommate, in our tiny living room. "Hey." I greet her with. She nods and continues watching her movie on the flat screen. I watch her go into the little kitchen we have and snag some popcorn, realizing this place is more like a five star hotel than a home for crazy people.

I have been at this facility for two months now. I was checked in the day after I tried to kill myself. It feels like it has been forever since then. I've been to therapy four times already and they have put me on an anti-depression pill. I was given meds the day after I arrived. Right now, I'm issued to take two a day, even when I am supposed to start school tomorrow.

Annie Cresta is my roommate here. She was checked in because she completely flipped out one day. It doesn't bother me that sometimes, she just stares into space so intently or that she laughs at random places in the conversation. It may bother the others, but they don't know Annie like I do. People only notice the unstable parts about her. Like how she has to check that the door is always locked and how she sleeps with the light on all the time. As I have lived here I've learned that not all crazy people are exactly crazy.

People look at you walk out of this place to go out somewhere and you are instantly a psycho. And I know that tomorrow will be living hell for us and the girls who live across from us, Johanna and Clove, when we all start high school.

I sit on the little purple couch that Annie picked out and start watching the movie. "What are we watching?" I ask the girl who has become a sister to me. She hands me the box holding the movie. _Safe Haven_, the box reads. I groan. Annie loves romance movies, but I love action movies. Even though we are very different, we get along better than I do with my real sister.

I start to go to our bedroom. When I get there I get on our laptop and go online. I currently have a new email. I click on it and read it quickly. _From :_

_Suicide prevention group therapy on Wednesday at four; make sure you come this time Katniss!_

_-Cinna-_

Dr. Cinna has been my therapist since the first day I got here. He has helped me through a lot, including yet another try at suicide. And that's why Annie and I aren't allowed to have knives in our kitchen.

The clock on the stand with the T.V. reads 9:30 PM. Ugh, already? "Annie, we're supposed to be in bed now." I say. She clicks off the T.V. and goes to our bedroom. She takes the bottom bunk of our bunk bed and instantly goes to sleep. Annie has a fear of sleeping on the top. She thinks she'll fall, despite the bars built around the bed. I'm used to being up high anyway, from my past experience of climbing trees. Soon I drift off to sleep.

_My mother sat motionless, staring at the wall like it was playing a T.V. show. "Mom." I try to say, but no sound comes out. "MOM!" I try to scream. She looks at me and raises her hand to touch my cheek, but then she slaps me hard and I fall before her. I scream through tears, "HE LEFT US! HE'S NOT COMING BACK MOM! HE'S GONE! HE DIDN'T LOVE US!" My mom slaps me again, this time harder. "Your father left because of you!" she screams. And the words echo through my brain, racking my skull… because of me…_

I wake up screaming. Annie darts up like a pop-up book. "Katniss!" I climb down where Annie is waiting with open arms. I let myself fall into her arms, sobbing. Annie pulls herself together when I need her to be strong for me, and I do the same for her. "Was it the dream?" she whispers. I nod and sob all over again. What if I break at school tomorrow? I break down twice a day often.

"Wait here." She says, and walks into the kitchen. When she comes back she is holding two steaming mugs of hot cocoa. She hands one to me and sits on her bunk with me.

I told Annie about the dream when I first had it here. She knows every detail of it, every cruel word, the way the last sentence echoes in my brain. She puts an arm around me soothingly. I stop crying so hard. I don't usually open up with people, even my mother and sister, but Annie knows me like she knows herself. Vice versa for me. If I break down at school, at least I will have Annie there to calm me down. I get flashbacks often. I read the clock. 3:09 AM. "We should get some sleep. We do have school tomorrow." I say, trying to pull myself together.

I crawl back into bed after popping an anxiety pill in my mouth. The drugs pull me into sleep soon enough.

When I wake up the next morning, I am filled with dread. I really don't want to go to school with normal kids. I would be happier being homeschooled with Johanna as the teacher.

There is a knock on the door and the girls who live across from us walk in without an invitation. "Hey brainless." Johanna says. Clove just nods a hello. Johanna walks in in her skimpy tank top and short shorts. Her pajama's more or less. Johanna typically doesn't mind us seeing her in her worst states (even in her bra…). Clove is arrogant and typically wears a sarcastic attitude. She comes in and goes into the kitchen right away. She goes straight to the beverage maker. "You had hot cocoa at 3 am without us?" she pretends to be angry, even though she really does have a horrible temper.

Clove and Johanna know about the dream and the late night cocoa too. They are my best friends. Johanna is in here because she tried to set her house on fire after her father abused her (for the last time obviously). Clove is constantly hearing whispers in her head and that obviously gave her a lifetime sentence. She really is brilliant though. Johanna is sort of Psycho though.

"I have to get dressed, guys." I say. I walk towards my dresser and pull out some clothes. Johanna laughs. "Go ahead," she says. When I come out I put my hair in the usual braid. Johanna whistles when she sees me and Clove laughs.  
"Someone's trying to look hot today." Clove says.

I scowl. "What?" I say with disbelief. I look in the full length mirror and see what they meant. My tee shirt comes up over my belly button and my skinny jeans hug my form. Since I got here I have been eating more, and the food filled out my curves. I guess I need new Clothes. "You guys could've told me I look like a slut." I say.

They all laugh. I go out and change into a black tee with silver details that actually fits, dark blue skinny jeans, and a leather jacket. I pull on my old hunting boots and look at myself in the mirror.

I go outside and strike a ridiculous pose. We all laugh. Suddenly the loud speakers click to life, announcing that we need to board the bus in 10 minutes. Johanna and Clove run to go get dressed and Annie just puts on a light pink ruffled shirt and soft blue jeans. Sometimes I get so jealous of how pretty Annie is.

We board the bus soon after and notice that we are the only ones on the bus. "Where are the other kids?" Johanna yells at the bus driver from the back of the bus. "Kids from your facility get picked up first." The driver says. Great. Now we will stand out even more than we should. We pick up kid after kid along the way, and a few strike my attention. A girl with fiery red hair, a tall attractive muscular guy, a beautiful blonde, another tall attractive guy, and yet another handsome boy. The bus fills up quickly. Suddenly one last student boards the bus. My heart stops when I see him for the first time.

His soft blonde hair was falling into his blue, blue eyes, and his smile lit up the bus instantly. I feel something I haven't felt before, ever in my life. He met my eyes momentarily and I look down, blushing bright red. He comes over to me. "Is this seat taken?" he asks, pointing towards the seat next to me. I shake my head, not looking at him. I look out the window, trying not to notice him. Annie nudges me playfully from behind. I blush.

The boy offers his hand, "I'm Peeta." He says. I shake it gently. The bus comes to a stop and everyone starts to get off. I walk off with my three friends without giving him my name. I don't want to get involved with the people here, not at all. We enter the school and register our names in the office so we get our schedules. We all, not shocking, have the same classes. They usually put the mental kids together in groups of four. I got lucky.

We start to walk off towards homeroom when I stumble down because someone tripped me. The boy I saw on the bus, the tall blonde with blue green eyes laughs. "Oops. Sorry. I should have known crazy people have a lot of accidents." He says coldly. I glare at him from the floor. He grabs my hand to pull me up, I think, put drops me again, harder.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I say coldly. I stand up and he and his little group shove us down again.

"Whatever the hell I want, psycho. How's the mental home? Finally let you out of your strait-jacket?" he sneers, mocking me. I scowl and grab Annie, who is freaking out at the thought of being bullied. I start to drag her down the hall when we are shoved over again. "Whoops. Sorry," the boy laughs again. Suddenly I see Peeta storming down the hall. "Leave them alone Cato." He says with his fists clenched tightly. Cato laughs.

Peeta suddenly brings up his hand and punches Cato in the jaw. Cato starts frowning. He starts to get his group and walk away. "Next time I see you, you're dead." Cato yells.

Peeta offers me his hand to help me up.

"I didn't quite catch your name." he smiles charmingly.

"I didn't give it." I say, and drag Annie away.


	3. Chapter 3

Fragments chapter 2

Katniss's POV

After dragging Annie away, we go to homeroom. As we walk in all eyes are on us. I quickly pull her over to our seats and meet with Johanna and Clove. They look at us worriedly. '_What happened?' _Johanna passes me a note. We are supposed to be reading or studying right now, but most kids just chat. As people talk I hear the words _Psycho/tried to kill Cato/dating that baker boy/crazy/slut. _Tears flood my eyes and all eyes dart towards me. I have been here for forty minutes and already everybody hates me.

Annie sees my tears and pats my hand reassuringly. I sniffle and all eyes are on me once again. No, they never left me. "Aww you made her cry guys. Be nice to the crazy girl." The blonde girl with green eyes says, teasing me. "Shut up Glimmer!" Peeta says through gritted teeth. She turns to him. "You're the crazy one if you think you'll actually get to date her..." the class laughs and I bury my head in my book.

Now everyone thinks I'm too crazy to date or something?! I let the tears fall out of my eyes. I run out of there and dart towards the bathroom so I can sob in peace. I go inside and cry harder. Makeup runs down my face, the makeup that I use to hide my scars. I reach in my backpack for my tissues and my makeup. Without the makeup caked on my face, all the scars on my face are horribly visible. The one across my eye is the worst.

I cake more makeup on my pale, scarred, ugly face while crying quietly. A voice comes from one of the stalls. "Is someone in here?" the voice shouts. I don't reply. "I know you're there. You don't have to hide from me." The stall door busts open and out pops a short girl dressed in an off the shoulder pink striped shirt and tight black pants. Combat boots are on her feet and her blonde hair is pulled into a sloppy ponytail. Her green eyes bored into me. She was really pretty, prettier than Glimmer.

"I'm Mindy." She says in her smooth voice. She offers me her hand. I take it gladly. "Katniss." I say back.

Who is this girl? I don't even remember her getting on the bus. I don't remember her from homeroom either. Does she even go here?

"Look, I won't tell anyone about your episode. If you don't tell anyone that I go to this school. Nice scar by the way. Looks like someone wrecked up your face with a knife. Very cool. Take the makeup off. You'd look so much tougher without it." She says. Again, this girl worries me. I start to take all the makeup off.

"You're from the hospital, aren't you?" she asks. I look up from the sink to look in the mirror at Mindy. I nod. "Mindy… are you a stalker or something?" I ask. She laughs. "You're not the only psycho at this school, Ms. Everdeen." She smiles wickedly. I step back and pull out my pocketknife I'm not allowed to have. "How do you know who I am?" I say with a shaky voice. Mindy laughs. "You're adorable." She says.

I lash out at her with the knife and she grabs my arm and flips me over without strain. I land hard on the tile floor and groan. She laughs. "Relax. I'm on your side. And in case you didn't take the hint, I'm from the hospital too." I get up only to fall down again. Mindy smiles. "I swear, that one had nothing to do with me." She says. I scowl and she offers me her hand.

I take it and stand up. "If you're from the hospital, then how come I've never seen you before?" I say suspiciously. She hands me a piece of paper. "My number and room number for the institute. You do have a phone right?" she says. I pull out my IPhone 4 the institute gave me. She nods. "Later weirdo." She says and walks out.

I'm the weirdo?

Later at lunch, I join my three friends at an empty table in the back. I slide in a seat next to Annie and she looks at me and gasps. She starts crying and runs away. I shrug when clove looks at me as if I did something to hurt Annie. Johanna gives me a hate glare. "What?" I ask with a full mouth. She waves me off and I pull out a book to read during lunch. I am so focused on the book that I'm startled when a familiar strong male voice tears me away from the story. I look up and meet the blue eyes of Peeta Mellark.

"Is this seat taken?" he asks with a dashing smile. I roll my eyes to tell him to back off, but he keeps smiling at me and I turn red. Our eyes meet and my heart races. All of a sudden another familiar blond head pops up and I hear a smooth voice I know all too well now. "Actually…" the voice says. The blonde plops herself down in the seat next to me that Peeta was eyeing. "This seat IS taken." The girl says in a sweet little girl voice, the same one Clove can make when she is angry. I can't believe Mindy came to my rescue.

Mindy smiles at him wickedly, the same way she smiled at me when we first met this morning. "Now get away from my friend, or I'll kick your ass, _Lover boy._" She says, still in that sweet voice. She bats her eyelashes and smiles up at him. He backs away and without another word, walks away.

**Peeta's POV**

I walk away from the table and join my friends at another table in the front. I slide in the seat next to Finnick and start eating. He nudges me and winks. "So how'd it go with the crazy girl?" I frown. I hate people calling her that. "Mindy Damon sent me away." I say with a little shudder. Mindy freaks me out. She goes to the hospital too, but she actually does seem insane. Finnick and Gale make pretend scared faces. "Ugh. She's a creep." Gale says, looking over at her. Mindy notices us staring at her and gives us a little wave. Then she points at us and drags her index finger across her neck. I get the message. _You're dead._ And I seriously do not doubt she would kill us.

We look away then laugh a little, worried. Having Mindy around is going to make it a lot harder to get my crush to like me. I look over at her and sadly smile. Mindy looks at me, whispers something in my crushes ear and they both laugh. I turn away, wondering what Mindy told her. My crush looks back at me and shakes her head with a small smile. I hate Mindy right now.

Finnick shakes his head at me. "You're practically in love with her and you don't even know her name. She's not interested." He says. I angrily walk away from the table and go join Katniss at her table. Her friends and her look at me, shocked. I smile at Mindy. "You didn't say this seat was taken." I smile. I stop smiling when Mindy looks at me with cold eyes. If looks could kill, this girl would have killed me long ago.

She grabs my arm, walks up, and twists it behind my back. I wince in pain. This girl is a whole foot shorter than me, but she manages to reach up and pinch my pressure points hard. My knees give out and I kneel on the floor after crashing down hard.

"I thought I told you to stay away Lover boy." She says into my ear coldly. She swiftly moves up her leg and kicks me in the head hard. My head aches horribly. The world goes black and I knock out.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 3

**MINDY'S POV **

**(I felt like I needed to put this chapter in Mindy's POV for a little bit of it because this is the chapter where you find out why Mindy is so important and who she is. Enjoy!)**

I land a swift kick to Peeta's head and he blacks out. Bulls-eye. I laugh and Katniss smiles a little. "You are so weird." Johanna says, even though she's laughing her guts out. I see a janitor start to walk by and take my seat next to Katniss and pretend to be in a deep conversation with her. She instantly catches on and pretends to laugh. The janitor gasps at the sight of Peeta's limp body and summons the nurse immediately. There is a lot of commotion and everybody but our table circles around, trying to see what happened. I laugh on the inside and can barely contain myself. But I put on my concerned little girl act and swarm around Peeta.

"Oh my god! What happened to him?!" I say in a fake worried voice. I'm used to putting on this act by now. I cry fake tears and look at the nurse with a pouty lip. "Is he gonna die?" I ask "sadly". The nurse shakes her head and pats me on my head. "No, sweetheart, he'll be fine." She says soothingly. Did I mention how much I hate the nickname sweetheart? Something in me snaps and everything goes foggy as I fade into a flashback. Words flash through my mind as I remember that day.

"_Don't listen to her sweet heart!" he says grabbing my hand hard…_

I wake up in the nurse's office in a bed next to Peeta. I snap up and gasp for air. "What am I doing here?" I ask angrily. As I regain my vision, I see Katniss, Johanna, and Clove standing above me. The nurse comes over and smiles. "You're awake. You blacked out at lunch after you saw Peeta on the floor knocked out. Are you OK?" I nod. I grab Katniss and run out of there.

Shit! I can't believe I blacked out in front of the whole ninth grade! I kick the wall where we are standing then keep running. "Where are we going?" she asks. "Home." I reply. I take her home to the institute, running all the way, and lead her to my room on the 8th floor. I slide in the card key and enter as fast as I can. As we enter I kick off my shoes and run over to the bathroom. I slam open the medicine cabinet and grab my pills. I open the bottle and quickly slip two in my mouth. I hope I grabbed the right one. I check the label. _Anger Management. _Yep. Those seem about right.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I whip it out quickly. I notice that I don't recognize the number on the screen. I pick it up and say "Who the hell is this?" in a mean voice. "Your ex." A male voice says. I walk into my bedroom and slam and lock the door. "How did you get my number?" I ask with hate in my voice. I don't have to pretend to be angry at this particular person. I'm always angry anyway.

"Glimmer. She is your sister you know." The voice says mockingly. I roll my eyes. "Maybe genetically. Not emotionally." I say. I hate my sister too, I can never forgive me for what that 'female dog' did to me. "Whatever. Can I ask you something?" he says with a pleading voice. I pretend to be thinking this over. "How about no?" I say. "I'm asking anyway. Can you please tell me why you are so obsessed with keeping me away from Katniss?" he asks. His goody-goody tone disgusts me. He can be the nicest person on the planet when he wants to be.

"Because I don't want you to hurt her like you hurt me. If you don't tell her the truth about us, I will." I sneer wickedly. "Mindy…please. I really like her." He pleads. I snort. "You really liked me, remember? I'm hanging up." I say. I'm ready for this conversation to be over.

"Please, I'll do anything… anything you want." He begs. I can imagine him with tears in his eyes right now, disgusted that he has to do whatever I ask him to.

"Fine. I WANT for you to leave Katniss and me the hell alone. Goodbye, Peeta." I hang up and slam the phone down on my bed as hard as I can.

**Katniss's POV**

Mindy goes into her room and slams the door. I jump back at the loud slam and bump into the wall. I enter her living room and notice the weird thing about Mindy's place. She has a little black couch with red and black checkered throw pillows and a flat screen across from it. But along the walls, instead of paintings or decorations or even windows, her walls are lined with weapons. Knives of every kind, swords, spears, and even axes are hung up all around. A punching bag swings around in one corner of the tiny room. There are targets dangling from the ceiling. How did Mindy get _half_ of this stuff past the front desk, much less the guards? She probably, as Mindy would say, kicked their asses.

I take a seat on the little black sofa and wait for Mindy to come out. After hearing yelling, a lot of slamming, and something shatter into a zillion pieces, Mindy comes out in a black tank top and black sweatpants. Her blonde hair is pulled into two pigtails and her face is clean of makeup. She looks almost like a little girl.

"You can stay if you want. I'm gonna train though." She says calmly even though her eyes are cold and filled with hate.

I think it over. Do I really want to stay and watch Mindy train? Or would she want me to train too? I guess I could stay, even if she did want me to "train", whatever she meant by that. What would she need to train for anyway? I can't come up with a reasonable answer besides her beating people up.

Her eyes go glassy and her face twists. "I actually think it'd be best if you go now." She says. I nod and leave. Right before I leave I hear Mindy screaming and kicking at the punching bag.

What is wrong with that girl? Someone must have hurt her really badly for her to be that… unstable. I go back to my room and unlock the door. Annie is already sitting inside, watching _Pitch Perfect_. Her mascara is running down her face as if she had been sobbing. There are black circles around her eyes from all the makeup she wears. I join her on the couch and turn her away from the TV to face me.

"Annie." I say. She's laughing uncontrollably for no reason. "Annie!" I say a little louder. Her laughter turns into sobs and she falls into my arms. I pull her away and grab her by the shoulders. "Annie. What happened at school today?" I calmly say to her. She stops crying all of a sudden, hiccupping from all the crying.

"Flashback… about my mom… never want to see her again … not coming for me…hates me…" she says through more tears. Those were the only words I could make out. I hug her and shush her until she stops crying. Her eyes get foggy again and I try to shake her out of it.

It's too late now. She's already deep inside a flashback. Her face crumples again and she starts screaming. "No! PLEASE! DON'T! NO… NO… NO…!" she screams at the top of her lungs and attendants come rushing in. they pull her out of my arms and pull out a needle. "Leave her alone!" I shout. They take her away from me and leave the room with Annie sedated.

I sit alone, rocking myself while I sob. I break down all over again, this usually happens when Annie isn't hear to calm me down. I cry my eyes out and run to the medicine cabinet before I try anything stupid. I pull out the purple pill I take when I get like this. I pop it in my mouth and my crying slows and stops. I feel all hazy, like I do when I usually take the drug.

I run to the top bunk in our bedroom and pull the covers up over me, suddenly shivering. Sleep comes quickly and I drift away.

_In my dream, the world is melting away. The grass is smeary and when I run through it, it feels like I'm running through hot wax. I run in the melted woods and reach my old house, which is on fire and burning down. Prim is inside the house, burning to death. When I try to go inside, the doorknob burns my skin and I wince and pull it away. The tricky thing is, when I look down at my burnt hands, I am the one holding the lighter. Prim starts melting down too. I scream but no sound comes out. The world all melts away and I drown in the final, watery remains of the world._

I wake up screaming and thrashing around. Clove, who was sitting on Annie's bunk, pops up at the sound of my screaming. "Katniss what happened? Was it the dream?" she says, climbing up to reach me. I shake my head.

"Worse."


	5. Chapter 5

**Annie's POV**

When I wake up, the bright lights of the institute's hospital scare me. I bolt up from the cold metal bed and my head aches and the world goes blurry. Beside the bed I am plugged into ten machines. Panic fills me and the heart monitor besides me starts beeping out of control. Why am I here?

People clothed in white surround me and put a mask around my face. I try to fight them off but they are too strong. "Let me go!" I shout. More arms go around me and another needle is plugged into me. My limbs go limp and everything in me goes numb. They paralyzed me! I try to scream but my face is frozen. They shoot stuff into me and I can finally move again. All my panic goes away and is replaced with emptiness.

I sit up and one of the doctors carefully unplugs me from every machine and pats my hand. "You can go home now, miss Cresta." She says soothingly. I stand upright and start walking towards the door. I wonder what happened…? Maybe my friends will know. Oh well.

Almost happily I walk up to my room while humming to a tune I don't remember. When I get there I open the door and walk inside calmly. From the other room I hear loud sobbing that I recognize instantly. When you live with a person for a while you know everything about them, even the sound of their crying.

I dash into the bedroom and there sits Katniss, sobbing her eyes out loudly. I run over to her and instantly lose my calm. I hug her and her arms go around me as quickly as my arms went around hers. What could have someone done to hurt my best friend this time?  
I loosen my grip on her and try to get her to look at me, but her eyes won't focus correctly on anything and the black spots in her eyes are huge. Her grey eyes get darker with emotion spiraling through them. "Katniss it's Ok, everything's fine. Shh… everything's fine. It's alright." Even though I have no idea what is going on I just assure her that everything's fine because I need her to calm down. I wonder what happened after I left. What did I do to get in the hospital? It must have been bad.

She shakes her head and straightens herself out. I wrap a blanket around her and prepare some tea. I go back to her and hand her a mug. She's stopped crying hysterically by now and her crying went down to a little sniffle. She takes the mug and takes little sips before calming down to talk to me.

"Ok. My mom…she…she…well Prim…Prim has to…" she mumbles. Her eyes go all hazy and she drifts into some distant place. "Katniss wake up! Please!" I cry. I hate when she does this. She starts screaming out incoherent sayings and freaking out a lot, and it really scares me.

Realizing that it is too late, I just cover my ears and wait for it to be over.

It ends after some time. I reach over and grab Katniss's wrists. "What. Happened?" I say. I try to remain calm and I grab her tighter. "Ow!" she says and I loosen up. "Sorry. Please, please, _please_, tell me what's going on Katniss?" her eyes clear up and she looks me in the eye.

"My mother died in a car accident and Prim has to live in foster care." She says sadly with more tears springing up to her eyes. She looks away, like she's ashamed of herself crying. When she comes to her senses, she's a very secretive person and she doesn't like opening up to people, so this doesn't shock me. Johanna, Clove, that girl Mindy and I are her only real friends actually. I bet if none of us were from the institute, she wouldn't have been friends with us because to her, everyone but prim who isn't from the hospital is just a stupid, judgmental, ignorant jerk who doesn't deserve her company. Take the way she treats Peeta as an example. I just think he genuinely wants to care for her.

Different emotions run through me and I gasp. I drop my mug of hot tea that was on my lap and the cup shatters on the floor. My eyes blur with tears and my throat gets sore as I choke back tears. Poor little Prim. I feel so sort for that little girl because of the things Katniss said to me about her.

From what I know (which is a lot), Prim is this sweet, sensitive, caring little girl that Katniss loves more than anything in the world. Katniss told me that Prim is shy and doesn't work well with strangers. I wonder how she'll do in foster care.

When I look back, Katniss is gone, so I just decide it's time for bed.

**Katniss's POV**

I wake up early the next morning. I get up and walk towards the bathroom to take my morning pills. I look at myself in the mirror. My eyes are bloodshot and my cheeks are damp with tears. My hair is all ratted and ugly. I groan and just decide to shower off the pain of losing my mother.

I take a hot shower and let the water rinse away all my pain. The steam fogs up the bathroom quickly and soon enough I can't even see my own hands in front of me. I shut off the water and hop out. Without showering as a distraction, the pain of losing my mother comes back. I pop my IPod in the speakers and select the song I always play when I get sad, _Evanescence, My Immortal._

The song streams through the speakers, blasting.

_I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears._

_And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave._

'_Cause your presence still lingers here, and it won't leave me alone._

_These wounds won't seem to heal; this pain is just too real, there's just too much that time cannot erase…_

_When you cried, id wipe away all of your tears._

_When you screamed id fight away all of your fears._

_And I held your hand through all these years but you still haunt… _

_Haunt me…_

I turn up the volume loud enough to wake Annie. Somehow listening to sad music helps instead of making me sadder. This song perfectly describes how I feel as of now. Even though my mother was abusive and mean, she was the only mother I ever had, and I loved her aside of everything.

I decide to dress in all black in honor of my mom. Huh. I've never called her that before. I dress in a black camisole with a black lace cover up. I pull on tight black leggings and my black knee high Converse. I even cloak eyeliner around my eyes.

Annie comes out and doesn't say a word. She knows this happens when I get sad. Just like she knows I love tea and have nightmares every night and don't own any skirts. She gets me.

She goes into the bathroom and comes out fully dressed in a pink dress with silver flats. Her dark hair is pulled back by a clip that was meant to look like a letter A and her ocean colored eyes look amazing with the shade of pink on her. How does she manage to look so beautiful all the time?

I sadly sulk into the kitchen and half-heartedly pour a bowl of corn flakes. At breakfast I don't say a word and when Johanna and Clove walk in I don't even mumble a hello. Even on the bus, when Peeta gives me a longing look and plunks down next to me, I ignore him and put in my headphones.

At school, I walk up the front steps quickly, wanting to be alone. Cato, the guy that bullied me on the first day, stops me in the hall. "Look who went emo!" he says with a laugh. I walk past him and ignore him. He shoves me into the locker and towers over me. "Where do you think you're going?"

I roll my eyes. He seems shocked that I don't care today. I don't care about anything today. "Homeroom. I know you don't go there often, but I do. Get out of my way." He laughs. "You don't tell me what to do emo." He says. My ignorance turns to anger. "It's not emo, Mr. know it all. It is simply called, I am sad because my freaking mother just died in a car accident and my little sister is orphaned because she didn't have a father to begin with! My dad walked out on us when he found out my little sister was deaf! I was seven years old then and have been providing for my family since then! Don't you go walking up to me and instantly judging me just because I didn't have the freaking heart to say, 'oh Cato, I'm so scared, please don't hurt me'! You don't get it, so don't even try to assume what the hell I could be thinking!" I yell.

I feel the tears flowing down my cheeks before I can stop them. Oh. My. God. Why did I have to tell the whole school what happened to me?! I hate everyone, me included, right now.

Cato loosens his grip on me and opens his arms to let me go, but grabs my wrists when I try to run away. "Katniss wait!" he cries. He looks me in the eyes with his blue-green ones and for a second, he actually has my attention. "What do you want? I think you've done enough." I say, about to walk away. His grip on my wrists gets tighter. "I'm sorry, you're right, I didn't know. I'm so sorry." I just roll my eyes. "Oh you are? What if I hadn't told you those things, would you still be 'sorry'?"

He doesn't answer, as expected. "I am so tired of people like you! You people think you can judge me until you decide to take pity on me! _That's_ when most people are sorry. Once they take pity on me." I break out of his grasp and run away.

Soon I have to go to my classes. I notice something about being so sad. Time seems to pass slower; it feels like the clock isn't ticking. Everything moves in slow motion and everything reminds me of my mother. Empty words, threats, and teases from my classmates (especially Glimmer and her current boyfriend, this retard named marvel who I bet doesn't even know my name) mean nothing today. When I see people opening their mouth, I don't hear anything come out. Nothing can break my sadness today. Tomorrow might be better.

I don't really talk at lunch. I just stick my headphones in my ears and try to drown myself in music rather than sadness. None of my friends bother talking to me. They know I don't want to talk.

School ends about a thousand years later. I walk through the halls trying not to be seen. I guess it doesn't work, because Peeta comes up to me and asks me what's bothering me. He gives me longing looks and asks me again and again. He even tries to introduce me to his friends, Finnick and Gale. But like I said, nothing seems to be coming out of everyone's mouths today. He grabs my hand and something in me wakes up.

I scowl at him. "I don't like being touched." I say coldly. He looks at me, concerned. He doesn't drop my hand though. He pulls me away until we are outside on the front steps of the school. "I thought I made it clear that I want nothing to do with you." I say. His expression softens. "You seem mistaken. Mindy made that clear FOR you." He says trying to be funny. I don't think it's very funny.

He stops me from walking away again and positions me so that I'm directly in front of him. He looks into my grey eyes with his soft blue ones and leans in, closer towards my face. "I like you." He says. I start to argue something back to him when he silences me by pressing his lips gently to mine.


	6. Chapter 6

**Katniss's POV**

He kisses me softly, unlike most guys would. Something about the kiss makes me feel something that words just couldn't put right. Like… I can't even describe if it's a good feeling or a bad one. I have actually never been kissed before, and to think that being kissed by a guy one of my best friends hates and I don't even know is the person who gave me an amazing first kiss. This is still extremely awkward with everyone looking.

I gently push him away, if there's a gentle way to push someone. "You only like me because you don't know me." I throw at him. He backs away as if I had shot him in the heart or something. Well, at least physically. I know I did that emotionally.

"You only dislike because you don't know me." he takes my hands and I rudely snatch them away.

"I thought I said I don't like being touched." I say, and walk away. He follows me quickly close behind. "I don't like being followed either." I scowl. He laughs. "Lets start with what you do like and we'll work from there."

I groan in annoyance. "How about what I love? I would love for you to leave me alone." I turn to look at him and run straight into Johanna. We both get knocked over and frown at each other. "Would you and your boyfriend watch where you're going?" she snarls.

BOYFRIEND?! How _nice_ of Johanna to make such a joke that could have been heard by the whole school! Angry at her, I turn away start walking home. Johanna is that one friend that is always mean, even to you. Out of all my friends, she seems to like me the least.

Peeta grabs my hand and leads me by the wrist into the parking lot. "Come on, I'm giving you a ride." He said. I scoff and release my hand away from him. I see something flicker in his face. Sadness. But it was just a flicker. "I'm sorry. Why don't you want to be my friend? Was it something Mindy said to you… about me?" he says quietly. I laugh mockingly. "NO, but you're suggesting there's something to tell, which isn't really appealing. And second, because I'm not looking for any friends at this school, OK? Look, just… just back off." I turn away and don't say another word after that.

I come home to an empty room. I sigh heavily and wonder what trouble Annie's gotten herself into now. Did she start seeing things again or something? When I first moved in here, Annie was living in here by herself. At that time, she wasn't a very stable person. Well neither was I, but that's not really the point right now. Like I was saying, she was always crying, always asking these really weird questions. One time, she tried asking me why people just… stopped, sometimes, that was the way she put it. She would see different things in the air, I don't know what she saw but I know she was looking at something. It eventually got better, but every now and then she freaks out and turns that way again. Usually I'm here to calm her down, but this time, I was too busy being kissed against my will.

I walk into the kitchen and spot something purple on the counter. I get closer to examine it and discover that it's a note.

_Went over to Johanna and Clove's for a little. If I stay late, I'm probably staying overnight. Sorry that I didn't get to see you, but you can come on over if you like! Anyways, I guess I'll see you at school though. _

_3 Annie_

I sigh and put down the note. If theres one place I don't feel like going, its to Johannas. I guess I'll just stay here. I grab a movie and go pop it in the DVD player. The movie starts and I snuggle in and try to stay awake. This is one movie I can watch alone, one that I wont have anyone here to tell me to shut it off. _Silver linings Playbook. _Annie will never let me watch it. I really don't know why. It's about crazy people like us.

Halfway through the movie, I hear a knock at the door. Who would have to knock? Annie has a key, and neither Johanna, Clove, or even Mindy knocks now. I wrap the blanket around me and look through the peep hole to see who it could be. I almost kick something when I see who it is. Peeta. How does he know what room I'm in?

I reluctantly open the door and frown at him. "What do you want now? Can't you see I'm busy? And how do you know where I live?" he steps back and shoves his hands in his pockets. I slam the door in his face after that and tears spring to my eyes. Somehow seeing him reminded me of the fact that my mom's dead. Maybe it was the way he looked at me, with gentleness in his eyes. my mother usually gave that look to Prim. I try to choke down my tears because I know he'll hear me crying through the door.

Why is life so hard? People die left and right every day and there's nothing, absolutely nothing you can do to save them. So why do we try? And then there's those people that you want to let in so badly, but you don't want to also because of something other people did to you. Everything scars you, nothing or no one gets out of anything unhurt. You don't even control your own life.

I start losing grip on everything. I slide down to the floor and cry quietly. Nothing makes sense. I didn't even really like my mom. Maybe it's just the fact that my life sucks right now. Sometimes I just wish i could make it all stop.

My mom probably died because I wanted it to happen, deep down somewhere, right? It's my fault. All my fault. I really did want it to happen… somewhere… I wanted Prim safe from her so it's my fault… I start banging my head on the wall, starting to believe that it really is my fault. Because it is and it's not though…

I walk around the room, wandering into the bedroom and the kitchen and the living room, every room, thinking about it. I stop at the door. "Peeta? Are you still there?" I say, desperate for an answer. A reply comes quick. "Yeah." I breath in and out slowly. "Peeta… is my mom's death my fault… because I wanted it to happen right?" I ask. I wait patiently. "Wha- your mom…" is the last thing I hear.

I step into my room and grab my pocket knife from the pocket of the jeans I wore yesterday. I then go back to the front door. I prepare to do what I have only attempted twice, and maybe this time it'll work right…

_I'm sorry. _Are the last words that run through my mind.

**Peeta's POV**

"Peeta… is my mom's death my fault… because I wanted it to happen right?" Katniss asks with a shaky, worried voice. Confusion overrides me. I cant believe this. Katniss's mom died? And why is she asking me? "Wha- your mom died? I'm sorry. About everything. Please let me in." I don't get a reply after that. I should have known there was something wrong when I heard her talking to herself and banging her head on the wall. i feel like such an idiot now. After that all I hear is a bit of shuffling around and some clanging. Then I hear her step back over to the door.

Silence follows after. I start to worry. She wouldn't have tried to kill herself, would she? She usually seems so strong. That's what I like about her. Well, one of the things. I start to see something creeping under the door slowly. As soon as I see what the dark red substance is, I immeadiately panic at the thought of finding the girl I love in there dead. I try the doorknob, and surprisingly, its wide open. Something blocking the door gets in my way. I kick at the door and knock over the chair that was against it. I walk over to her and enter the room. She is curled up in the corner of the doorway, unconscious.

I turn her over so she's on her back. In her left hand is a small pocket knife with a little blade, now covered in blood. Both of her wrists were slit open. She still has a heartbeat though. I scoop her up in my arms and carry her out of the exit.

I knock on the door that I know is Mindy's. When we were dating, I came here a lot. When we were dating, huh, that's a complicated story, especially if you hear it from Mindy. She thinks I meant to make it all end, meant to make everything look wrong. She's hated me ever since that misunderstanding. I never wanted to break up with her exactly, I even still miss her, and I feel horrible for liking Katniss alongside of it. But that's not the point right now, no matter how much Mindy or I wants it to be.

She opens the door and gives me a hate glare. She crosses her arms. "You've really come to ME for help? You are that desperate?" she shifts her head as she speaks. As angry and scared and confused I am, I nod. When I'm not with Mindy, it's easy to like her all over again. But when I'm with her, it's kind of hard to remember the fact that I still sort of like her because of the person she's become. _Mindy_, I mouth, _please._ She rolls her eyes and waves me along to come and follow her.

She leads me over to an elevator and we board it instantly. She presses a few buttons then we start moving down. "Where are we going?" I ask curiously. She stands there, just leaning against the wall, as if she can't notice her dying best friend in my arms. "Hospital." She replies.

Soon we get to a brightly lit place that I assume is the hospital and call over some doctors. "What exactly happened?" one asks. I turn over her wrists and they instantly take her away and shut Mindy and I out of the hospital room. We walk over to the waiting room and sit down in awkward silence. She turns away from me and looks over at something else. I want to apologize, make things right, but I don't really know how. I'm not saying I want to go out with her again, I'm just saying she needs to know the truth.

"Mindy?" I ask. She turns to face me and gives me a stone cold glare. "What?" she coldly replies. I brace myself for the argument I know is sure to come next. "How many times do I have to apologize to you? Look, you don't understand what happened that night-" I start to say. "Yes I do! You kissed my sister! You were cheating on me! Glimmer even had proof!" she cuts me off.

"Glimmer only made it look that way, Mindy! And since when do you believe her? I thought you said you hated each other!" I yell. Mindy's face twists. "We do! But what she said made a whole lot of sense. How you suddenly had to leave our dates or when you couldn't stay for dinner or something stupid like that! That's how I knew, Peeta! Not by my retard of a sister!"

"I would never cheat on you Mindy! I loved you too much to do that. And maybe I do a little now…" I trail off.

She looks at me funny, knowing that I like Katniss too. Why did Mindy have to reappear in my life? That makes it so much harder to get by liking Katniss! She looks at me, her green eyes wide and bright, not Glimmer's eyes green, but a green that can hypnotize you with all the colors in them, a beautiful green. We both lean in closer. Soon I press my lips to hers and kiss her. I wrap my arms around her and she kisses me back.

Once we realize what we've been doing, we break apart and not look at each other. We sit in awkward silence.

"You should be here when Katniss wakes up." I mutter, and I walk out of the hospital, not looking back at the place where both girls I love are.

**Thanks for reading! I just wanted to say sorry because I know some of you guys really didn't catch on to Mindy so I'll kind of explain it later, in the next chapter. I know the chapters aren't really in the right order but just ignore that. Thanks for reading and please review! Let me know what you think! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! I know it's been like a trillion years since I last posted a chapter and I feel horrible about it, so I'm gonna write like every day now. I'm really sorry! Anyway… So this chapter is going to be really great I hope, a lot of stuff happening and things. And from special request, I'm including Prim in this chapter more than I usually include her, so that's new. Anyway, here it is!**

**Mindy's POV**

_What the hell was that? _I think, as Peeta leaves the hospital. I mentally smack myself. That wasn't supposed to happen. Not at all. And I definitely wasn't supposed to kiss him back. I feel awful about this! For one thing, that just changed everything right now. And second, what about Katniss? This is why I was afraid he would hurt her. Except I never expected me to be the one to play alongside him.

I need to get my mind off of this, or I'll snap just thinking about it. After trying pacing, playing on my phone, or practicing my hand to hand combat on a chair, I find out that forgetting something that big just can't be done. Why did it happen anyway? It's not like he kissed me. We kissed each other. I feel worse thinking that.

I need to stay strong. I've let myself go all sweet for too long. It's time to go back to the old Mindy, the one who would have snapped Peeta's neck when he tried to kiss her, or the one that doesn't really need to be nice. To anyone, because to that Mindy, it didn't matter what people thought of her. The Mindy that people were scared of.

But do I really want to lose Katniss? As a friend? I have never really exactly had a real friend before. Grr.. I can think about this later. Right now I have to see Katniss.  
I walk into the ER and try to find Katniss's room. I find hers and notice that it is left wide open. Great. I thought I was gonna have to kick a couple of doctor's asses. I walk in and there she lies, unconscious and bloody. A girl I've never seen before sits on the foot of the bed, reading. She has long blond hair which is done into two braids that run halfway done her back. She is tiny and pale, with light blue eyes. "Hey." I say. The girl is intently focused on her book, even though I practically yelled hey. I tap her shoulder and she looks up at me. She gives me a confused look and then waves a little. She smiles brightly and points at me then starts moving her hands around. At first I think she's just waving her hands around a bit or something but then I realize what's going on. She's deaf.

I awkwardly stand there while she signs. She looks at me and then stops smiling. She sighs and then pulls out a notebook. She writes something down and hands it to me. I notice how she hands me the marker too.

_Sorry. I forget that not everybody is deaf sometimes. My name is Prim, I'm Katniss's little sister. You must be Mindy. Katniss told me a lot about you. :)_

I roll by eyes but smile at the same time. I don't really feel all that great about talking to her with a piece of paper, but I guess it's what she wants. Maybe she's used to talking like this by now.

I take the marker and scrawl out something on the paper in my horrible handwriting. I was trained for combat, not for school. That's my explanation for everything, though. Not that I have things to explain to a lot of people. What I mean is, I don't really have friends.

_I'm sorry too. Nice to meet you anyway. How is she?_

I hand it to her and she writes something out again.

_Fine. She'll be OK. I'm so worried about her though._

Her face turns sad and her eyes get teary. I stand there awkwardly and look at the floor. Did I ever mention that I'm terrible at comforting people? When it comes to feelings, I'm not the one to come to.

I take the notepad back and write, _Don't worry about her. I'll keep her from trying this again. _

I put the notepad down and point towards the door. She nods and waves with a little smile. I wave back and walk out of the ER. Right now, I just need some time alone to figure out what the hell is going on between Peeta and I.

**Prim's POV**

After Mindy leaves, Katniss thrashes around then starts waking up. Once she sees me a huge smile forms on her face. She opens her arms for a hug and I go into them without a doubt. She plants a kiss on my cheek and beams at me. _'What are you doing here?_' she signs.

'_I was really worried about you once I heard what happened. Why did you do it Katniss?' _I sign almost sadly. I don't like it when she tries to hurt herself. It just makes me sad because it means she doesn't really value her life over all else. I try not to think of that now.

She sighs heavily. '_I don't want to talk about it. Why don't we talk about YOU?' _I shrug and shake my head. She waves me off and signs, '_I want to know how you are. You already know that I'm going to be fine, and you know I don't like you worrying about me.' _Now I'm the one sighing. I don't really want to talk about myself either. It hasn't really been all that easy on me either.

'_I… I'm OK, you know? Everything's good. I mean I miss mom but I expected that to happen. I'm actually good.' _ I sign. Instantly I want to know how she's doing. I know she didn't really like mom, but still. Well, I don't really know anymore. Katniss's has changed since she came here. I don't know if that's good or bad though. I have to know. '_I want to know how you're doing.' _I ask. She shakes her head again. We both look at each other with a begging face.

'_OK then. I'm pretty awful, ok then. I feel like I had something to do with mom dying because maybe on some bad level it's what I really wanted and I feel really awful and really guilty for the whole thing.' _She breaks into tears and I pull her into another hug. I know this must be really, really hard on her. We break apart and all I can do is sign, '_I shouldn't have asked.'_

She shakes her head and just hugs me again. After she gets a hold of herself we start 'talking', trying to catch up. I guess our letters to each other haven't really been letting us talk enough. I learn a lot about what's happened. She was doing pretty well before all this happened. She met Mindy, her and Annie were doing good, everything was normal. Before she tried to kill herself again.

She learns a lot about me. Mom and I were living in a nice apartment, I was going to a good school, and things just seemed perfect. Until they weren't anymore. After mom died I moved into an orphanage where I lived for about 2 hours before they put me in a foster home. The couple I live with is really nice and all, but it doesn't feel like home to me. They try so hard to make me feel good, but lately I've learned that nothing can make up for someone you love being gone.

I feel good 'talking' to her, just having someone to be able to understand me. The couple I live with is really trying to learn to sign, but so far I can only sign about 1 word per minute to get them to understand me. Hardly anyone does.

Being deaf is a gift and a curse. Sometimes, I like it because I can just be peaceful, or be alone, or not have to hear all the ugly stuff there is in this world. It's like leaving this world for a short amount of time to go into my own, quiet one. And the other times, I hate it because of the way other people act around it. They stare, and just immediately think bad of me. _Poor little deaf girl, what a damaged little thing, _they say. It's even harder when I try to talk to them. No one understands me. Sometimes I feel like it's as if no one can see me.

That's why I love being with Katniss. Not only is she my sister, but she's my best friend too. She always is there to listen, even if there's nothing to hear.

It feels like we've been talking for hours when I am told that now I have to go. Sadness washes over me when I realize that it will be months, maybe a year, before I can come back. I was barely allowed to come this time.

'_I will write every day, I promise.' _I sign, almost crying. She hugs me tightly then nods and signs that she'll do the same. I am then ushered to the door and, before I go, press three fingers to my lips then bring them out.

**Ok this chapter wasn't the greatest (or the longest) and I know nothing really happened, but this was more like a chapter to fill you in on things. The next one will be way better, I promise. Please review! I want to know what you think, even if you think it's horrible. Especially if what you think is horrible. Anyway, thanks for reading! :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**Katniss's POV**

I lean against the back of the chair and pop another piece of candy in my mouth. Annie walks over and sits across from me after popping another movie in the DVD player. She smiles brightly at me and says, "I'm just glad you're here." She hadn't heard that I tried to kill myself until a day after it happened, and she freaked out once she did hear about it. Since I got back she hasn't stopped talking about how happy she is to have me back from the hospital, and I have only been here 2 hours. But I know how it must have been for her, she doesn't really get by without me, and that's something I respect, and regret.

After Prim left, the doctors just patched me up and sent me home with more pills. I found Annie here under some sedation drug because she was "unstable" for the moment. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Anyway, I just came back here and watched a movie with Annie.

A knock at the door startles both of us and I jump up a little. Annie looks at me with worried eyes. She's always been afraid of whose gonna come to the door and take her away from me. I'm pretty much used to it. Annie has little things like this, like being afraid of knives, or sleeping with the lights off. If anyone else was her roommate, I don't know what she would do. I'm pretty much the only one who puts up with all those things.

The person knocks again and I angrily rush to the door. Ugh, I thought I told Mindy she doesn't need to knock anymore. I open the door and almost slam it instantly. Peeta, here again. "Can I come in?" he asks. I roll my eyes and mumble, "Fine."

He steps inside and looks around a little, as if he's expecting to see a psychopath jump out at him or something. "Oh come on, Annie doesn't bite." I say while dragging him along. Once we're in the living room I stop walking and cross my arms at him. Annie isn't around. She must have been afraid of something again. Oh well.

Peeta and I stare at each other in silence. "What are you doing here?" I ask. He looks at me calmly. "I wanted to see how you were doing. You know, because of…" he trails off and looks at the floor. I roll my eyes again. "First of all, you can say it. I really don't care. Second of all, I'm perfect, alright? Why do you care?" he leans in closer to me. "Because I care about you." He says quietly. We are so close that if I got any closer, our noses would be touching. I scoff. "You don't know me." I say. Then he takes my hands and pulls me into him. "I don't care." He says. We both lean in and the next things I know, his lips are pressed against mine.

Time seems to freeze when we kiss. This time, I'm kissing him back. I don't try to stop him either this time. I never understood what was so great about kissing before. Never really saw the point of it. But now I know.

I snap back into myself and break away slowly. He looks at me, concerned. "What's wrong?" he says, looking into my eyes. I shake my head and untangle myself from his arms. I walk away from him and settle down on my chair, putting my head in my hands. "What just happened?" I ask myself. Oh my god. What did I do?

Peeta walks over to me and pulls my hands away from my face. Then he brushes a strand of hair out of my eyes and touches my cheek. I almost let myself kiss him again. But I take his hands and snatch them away. "You should go." I mumble, trying not to look at him. Annie walks out of our room and gasps at the sight of us like that. Then, to my surprise, she smiles. "Hi Peeta!" she chirps happily. My face is riddled with confusion. How does Annie know HIM?

She laughs and waves her hand. "Oh Katniss! I didn't tell you, sorry. While you were in the hospital Peeta came over looking for you and I invited him in anyway, so we talked and now we're friends! I didn't know he was here, why didn't you tell me?" she says with a little too much enthusiasm.

I just shrug and stand up so I can show Peeta to the door. He shakes his head, knowing what I'm going to do, and just waves before he walks out the door.

"I'm going to bed." Is all I say.

**Peeta's POV**

I walk out the door and shut it slowly behind me. I sigh. She'll never let herself like me, will she? That makes this even more complicated. It was already getting complicated enough when Mindy stepped into the picture, and when I started liking her again. I don't know what to do.

I walk back towards the exit so I can just go home and sleep things off. But as things would have it, of course I have to run into Mindy. She stumbles down and falls over from the impact of the crash. She puts her hand over her head and closes her eyes. "Jeez would you watch where you're-"she says as she opens her eyes and sees me. Her anger turns into something I can't quite describe and she turns bright red. I offer her my hand and she takes it and pulls herself up.

"What are you doing here?" she says. I don't reply. I know we're both thinking about the kiss. Realizing that she still has my hand in her own, she drops it and backs away. I kind of wish she hadn't. Dang it. It's so hard to want to be with Katniss when she's here. I feel like a horrible person for liking them both.

We stand there in silence. She points towards the right of us and mumbles, "Um...did you…um want to come in?" I shrug. I didn't even know we were at her door. I guess I didn't notice. One thing I do notice is how weird she's acting. I have never seen her blush, or mumble, or not look someone in the eyes when she speaks. She's usually so confident. And why did she invite me in?

"Actually… I have to… on second thought, I'd love to come in." I say easily. If I'm late getting home, it won't really matter. Even if I wasn't, my mom would find another reason to be mad at me. She's always mad anyway. Especially when we run out of alcohol.

She nods and opens the door to let me in. I look around and notice that since the last time I've seen the inside of this place, nothing has changed. Same weapon covered walls, same little black furniture pieces, same red carpet. Except, now every detail brings back a memory, good or bad, from all the times I had been here. It kind of hurts a little, remembering it all.

I sit down on the little couch and meanwhile, Mindy goes into her bedroom. Trying to be patient, I look around at all the weapons on the wall while she does whatever it is shes doing. What happened to the sweet, kind, and quiet girl that Mindy used to be? The one that hated weapons and violence? I miss that Mindy, the Mindy I used to date. I like her better now though, for some reason.

She comes out in a change of clothes and with all her makeup off. I know she doesn't mind me seeing that one scar on her face from where she cut herself. She stands in front of me with her arms crossed, her face determined, looking me straight in the eyes. "Can we talk?"

I nod and settle in, preparing myself for an argument. She sits down next to me and takes a deep breath. I think I know what's coming. "So… what the hell, Peeta?" she says in a firm voice. "You can't just tell me to back off and then come back around and kiss me! That's not cool. Like at all." I back away a little when she starts yelling. I place my hands up in front of me to say calm down. "You kissed me too Mindy. And I don't know what's going on either, Ok? I thought I liked Katniss but then you came along again, and I just... I like you."

She scowls and laughs. "But you like her too. Make up your mind." Then she walks into her room and slams the door.

I guess I better go.

I wake up the next morning feel bruised and broken. I can thank my mother for that. She beats me whenever I do something wrong. Although I guess I should expect it more often now. Running a finger over the bump on my head, I sit up and try to stand. But when I place my body weight on my legs, I notice something's really wrong. I look down and see a huge bump on my left leg. With shaky fingers I lightly touch the bump. Pain sears through me like I'm on fire. I wince as I realize what the bump is; my broken bone.

Damn it. This is awful. How am I gonna hide this at school? I limp to my drawer and pull out some jeans that cover up the bump perfectly. Then I put on a t-shirt that doesn't really help hide the cuts on my arms. I just pull on a hoodie, even though it's not cold enough for one. Then I look in the mirror at my black eye. I'll just say I tripped or something.

When I get to school, all eyes are on me. I look down and try to limp inside as fast as I can, but I soon realize that's not gonna be an option. My leg feels like its burning, and trust me; I know what being burnt is like.

Suddenly, I am knocked down by someone and I look up to face him. Cato. He laughs when he sees my pained expression. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Peeta Mellark himself. I hear you're going out with Mindy again. I feel really bad for you." He sneers. Wait- what? Me and Mindy? Oh god, they didn't tell Katniss that did they?

I guess I'm gonna find out. She walks over and shoves Cato away from me so she can see me. "You jerk! Why did you kiss me and then decide to start going out with my best friend?!" she yells at me through tears. Yep, they told her. "Katniss wait!" I say as she runs away crying.

Once shes gone, Cato decides to beat me up even more than I already am beat up. Since I can do nothing to defend myself, I just shut my eyes and wait for it to be over.


	9. Chapter 9

**Katniss's POV**

I run inside the school and dart to the bathrooms, where I know a certain person will be hiding. I slam the door open and cross my arms. "Mindy I know you're in here." I say loudly. The words echo through the bathroom as Mindy slides out from the bottom of a stall. "Hey." She says with a smile. I scowl. "Don't just say hey, and act like I don't know what's going on. That's not cool. Like at all." She wipes the smile off her face and stands in front of me. "What are you talking about Katniss?" she frowns, as if she doesn't know. I scoff.

"Oh, how about the fact that you're with Peeta and you didn't tell me!" I shout. She looks me in the eyes and replies, "Ok, what piece of crap told you I was with Peeta? Cato? That jerk Marvel? Katniss, you're my best friend, and the only real friend I ever had. I wouldn't lie to you, and you're stupid if you think I would." My anger fades away. She's right. I just can't be mad at Mindy can I?

"Then why didn't Peeta deny it? What's up with you two? You obviously have history." I say. She rolls her eyes. "Come on, sit down. It's story time. You better get comfortable, it's a long story." We both shift to a sitting position against the wall. I cross my legs and sigh. "Ok. Tell me." she turns to face me and takes a deep breath.

"Well, once upon a time, there were these two kids, a girl and a boy, about 13 years old. The boy and the girl saw each other at school from time to time, and the boy always tried to talk to the girl, eat lunch with her, you know. But the girl wouldn't let him in. she just kept ignoring him, kicking his ass when necessary, all that fun stuff. Until, one day, the girl did let him in. she let the boy say that he loved her, and she blindly accepted it. So they went out, as a couple. They did couple things, were all mushy with each other, and they were perfect."

Mindy pauses and looks at the floor, as if she can remember this all happening like a movie in her mind, playing what used to be a happy movie but is now a horror movie.

"Until, you know, the girl's evil sister stepped in to the picture. She made it her goal to steal the boys heart and crush her sisters own heart. The girl however, didn't notice this, and carried on as usual. And because of this, the evil sister was able to swoop in and steal the boy's heart, all while the boy was falling for her. And one day, the girl caught them together, and just like her sister predicted, her heart shattered into tiny sharp pieces. From that day the girl swore to never let anyone get the chance to hurt her again, and she never gave any other boy the chance to do that. The end."

Mindy looks at me with a hard look in her eyes. "Know you know." She says coldly. She stands up and I look up at her sadly. "Mindy… is that true?" she looks down at me and nods slightly. I stand up and wrap my arms around her. "I'm so sorry." For a second she lets me hug her, but then she pushes me away. "Thanks, but I'm fine." As I turn away to walk out she calls my name and I walk back in.

"Yea?" I ask. She turns away from me. "No one needs to know that story."

For the rest of the day, I avoid classes and stay with Mindy in the bathroom, where no one checks for missing students. After telling me that story, she started to trust me more, somehow, and that made our friendship a lot easier. For the past five days, she's hung out with me constantly, even asking me to spend the night at her place. Even though she's nicer, she's still Mindy. Threating me, kicking people's asses, being mean. I don't mind it anymore. It's nice to have a friend who can get revenge on the people who hurt you.

We've been avoiding Peeta. Neither of us brings him up, because when one of us does, she gets that distant, angry look in her eyes and starts breaking things. And we don't bring up my mother, which makes me get all depressed. Since that incident in the front of the school, we haven't seen him at all, and that's something we're both thankful for.

Today, we sit in my living room, eating pizza and watching T.V. when Annie, who I haven't seen much of, barges in. she walks in with a big smile on her face but when she sees us, it fades away. Tears come to her eyes and she runs into our bedroom crying. I sigh. "Give me a sec." Mindy nods and I walk into the bedroom.

Annie is face down on her bed, crying her eyes out. "Annie, what's wrong?" I walk towards her to pat her back and sit beside her, but she moves away from me. "Go away!" she yells, still face down. "Annie, you can tell me. I'm your best friend." I say sweetly. She faces me with anger in her eyes. I gasp. I've never seen her angry. At all. She's usually so sweet and gentle. She balls up her fists and says, "Not lately!" she walks towards the door and I meet her eyes. "What are you saying? Whats wrong with you?"

She walks towards me and looks me in the eyes. "Like you don't know. Lately you're Mindy's best friend! She's always here, always with you! If there's only one seat at lunch left you give it to Mindy. If you are lonely or bored you call Mindy. You're even talking like her, dressing like her, acting as mean as her! Ditching Johanna Clove and I! Well you know what?! If you don't want to be my best friend, I don't want to be yours!" she yells through a sob.

She pushes me away. I tense up and look at her weird. This is not the Annie I know, not the sweet girl who brings me breakfast in bed on Sundays or the girl who is sweet and polite to everyone she meets. This Annie is different. Her eyes are hard and cruel, her voice is edged with sarcasm and her face is twisted with anger. The sight of this girl makes me want to cry. What and who did this to my Annie, made her a mean, angry girl?

She shoves me out of her room and slams the door in my face. I take shaky breaths and try to calm down. Mindy comes over to me and looks at me with a confused expression. "What's going on?"

I shake my head. "Let's go to your place. I'm spending the night." She just raises an eyebrow. "Um… Sure…?"

I don't even pack a bag, I just start heading over to Mindy's. I definitely did not want to stay with the new Annie. Honestly, she scares me. Mindy looks me over and instantly reads my expression. "Who the hell did something to you? It wasn't Peeta, was it?" I shake my head. "It's…its Annie. She's so different, so angry. It scared me a little. She's not the sweet girl I kno-"

Someone bumps into us and we all fly to the floor. "Watch it." A male voice says. Mindy frowns. "Watch me end your life!" she sneers. We all stand up and I gasp at the people standing before us.

Clove and Cato, holding hands.


	10. Chapter 10

**Katniss's POV**

Clove and Cato glare at Mindy and I as we take in the scene before us. Shock fills me to the brim and I make a sound of disapproval. "What the hell Clove!?" I shout. An attendant passes by and gives us a concerned look. "We're fine." I pull Clove into Mindy's room, gripping her wrist so hard it starts turning red.

"Katniss!" she screams. I keep pulling her away until we are completely alone.

"What's going on here!?" I yell. Clove doesn't answer. She stares at the floor and doesn't look at me. That just makes me even angrier. "CLOVE!" She jumps up at the sound of my voice. "OK OK OK! I'm sorry I didn't tell you! I didn't think it would be that big of a problem. You hardly know Cato, he's really not a bad guy!" she screams back at me. We both glare at each other furiously.

Cato and Mindy storm in at the sound of all the yelling. Cato walks in and steps in front of Clove protectively and I frown. Oh come on, he should know I wouldn't hurt Clove anyway. She's one of my best friends. Or was, depending on how this all turns out. I still can't believe she would do this. She knows how I feel about him. I feel so betrayed.

I cross my arms and roll my eyes at him. He steps in front of me angrily and towers at least a foot over me, trying to intimidate me. I groan inwardly and take a step back. "Personal space please?"

He smiles smugly and says, "What are you gonna do about it, freak?"

My face flushes red with anger. I've been called freak tons and trillions of times, but this time, I feel a little more hurt when he says it. I don't know why, it just…is different that time.

I take a step forward and meet his eyes. "Don't call me a freak, asshole." I throw at him. I grin when he looks shocked by my response, as if he's thinking, _I didn't think she knew how to speak for herself. _Yeah right. No one thinks this, but when I want to insult someone, I know how to make it hurt, and that's exactly what I'm about to do to Cato.

We stare each other down, each of us waiting for the other to make a move.

"Don't call me an asshole, mental case."

At the sound of that I lunge forward at him and land a punch square on the jaw. Sure, call me freak, call me stupid, and call me gay, but NOBODY gets to call me mental case. He gives me a dirty look and clenches his fists. I know things are about to get ugly. And I'll be one of the people doing all the fighting.

Where no one can see us. Where anything can happen.

My five seconds of bravery ends instantly, but I try and keep my cool. All my confidence, my pride from yelling at Clove, is gone and replaced with adrenaline. My heart pounds and I can hear it in my ears. We just stand there, looking at each other, knowing that unless we make a move, the other person wont.

Time seems to stretch on endlessly. It feels like we're standing there for ten hours before I finally feel his fist connect with my nose.

I don't feel the pain or hear Clove scream until blood starts to trickle down my face. Clove and Mindy are too shocked to even defend me or stop the fight from happening. And so am I. I didn't think Cato would stoop low enough to punch me in the face, but I've been wrong about a lot of things lately anyway.

The next thing I know he punches me in the stomach and the wind is knocked out of me. I gasp for air and try not to puke. Pain spreads through my body like a wildfire and I try not to stumble over. I manage enough strength to kick him behind the knee cap, hard, and he drops to his knees.

Never having been in a fight before, I don't know what to do next. I'm assuming I should knock him out now. A kick in the head would do some good.

As I raise my leg to kick him he grabs my ankle and twists it backward. Then, with my foot still in his hand, he pulls my leg and brings me to the floor. I land hard on the ground and bang my head against the floor.

My body goes numb and the world starts getting darker. I force myself to stay awake and fight, but my body is pinned to the floor and I can barely move. _Come on come on come on! Stay awake! _

Cato stumbles up and walks over to Mindy's kitchen counter. Clutching his nose to stop it from bleeding, he uses one hand to reach over the counter and grab something.

A knife.

He walks back over to me, dangling the knife above my heart. Where the heck are Clove and Mindy? I look around and notice their absence. _Thanks guys, thank you so much for not being here right now to witness my torture and possible death,_ I think with sarcasm. Am I gonna die? I had always thought if I was going to die at the hands of a blade, I would be the one wielding the knife. I guess I thought wrong.

"You're so freaking dead!" he laughs.

The last thing is see is Cato raising the knife above my heart.

**Clove's POV**

Mindy and I run down the long corridors, rushing back to her room. "Hurry up!" she shouts. She's about ten yards ahead of me. Man, that girl can run.

I should not be thinking about that, be thinking about how much I need to hurry up and get back. Cato's probably killing her about now. Sometimes I wish he wasn't so…jerk-ish. I can't believe he would do this to someone he barely knows, but I guess I should expect that, especially since its Cato we're talking about. He can snap her in half. He could snap anyone in half, actually. And I don't know why I'm so proud of it.

We – well I, Mindy got there ten seconds before me, actually – reach Mindy's room soon enough, just to see Cato about to plunge a knife into Katniss's heart. Mindy gasps and reaches around in her pocket for something. She pulls out a little silver case and flips it open. Ah, I know what it is. A butterfly knife, the kind of knife that flips open into a razor sharp blade from metal casing, the kind of knife that you can do tricks with, or something along those lines. I know Mindy won't use it for tricks, though.

She does a couple of flips to attract Cato's attention, and then throws it at him. It whizzes past me and hits his hand, the hand he used to hold the knife over Katniss's heart. It plunges into him and sticks into his palm. He draws back in pain and Mindy grins at him sweetly.

I gasp as pain registers on his face and I dart to his side. "Get down!" Mindy shouts. Another knife flies past me and hits his other hand. Cato slides away from Katniss and screams in pain as he pulls the knives out of his hands. I draw away in shock. I'm used to combat, I just never expected it from Mindy, sweet, silent little Mindy. Well, she used to be sweet and silent. Now she's mean and annoying. People say Mindy and I have a lot in common. I would like to think not.

Cato swings at her but she dodges his punch and grabs his arm to block him from trying to do so again. She twists his arm around him so tight that I hear a tight snapping sound.

"STOP IT!"

They both look up at me in shock, Mindy with a cocky grin plastered on her face, and Cato, with his face dripping in blood. If I weren't used to this kind of thing, I would have just about thrown up. Say, if I were Katniss. But im not. This is me, Clove, raised on this kind of thing, trained to throw a knife at four years old.

I pinch Mindy on the shoulder, hard, and she crumples to the ground. Pressure points are the easiest way to knock out an opponent. Mindy should know that VERY well…

"Ow! What the hell Clove!" Mindy exclaims. Dang it. I forgot Mindy is trained to be immune to all of the things others can't stand. These are moments when I wish she was just a normal kid, like Glimmer or Peeta or Marvel. When I wished she'd never been trained at all.

I rush to Cato's side and take his bloody arm so I can see it better. The bone that Mindy snapped is almost sticking out of him. Ew. Oh well. I gently help him walk over to the couch and lay down. It turns out he's too tall for the couch, so I prop him down on the floor with the couch cushions instead. I place his bent arm up on a pillow and use Cato's jacket to sop up all the blood.

"Hold on. You're at MY room. You're not gonna use MY stuff on your sorry ass boyfriend who doesn't even deserve the luxury of death right now. As long as you're in my apartment, I call the shots. So I say you get the hell out of here before I kick your scrawny ass too." Mindy says with her arms folded over her chest.

I give her a dirty look. Out of the fight, Mindy only has a small cut above her eye and a bruise on her left cheek. I despise her for that. I roll my eyes and start to help Cato up again. For some odd reason I decide to listen to Mindy.

I take Cato away from there immediately. I take him back to Katniss's place, where Johanna and Annie likely are.

Dragging my limp boyfriend alongside me, I make way to Katniss's place, pull out my copy of their room key, and walk in.

What I see next is so terrifying I'm sure I'll have nightmares tonight.

**Thanks for reading! The next chapter should be up today or Tuesday (I don't usually write on the weekends and Monday I'll be seeing kick ass 2 :) ). Sorry for making you wait, I do a LOT of editing on my stories, so, yeah. And BTW, if you like this type of story (hurt/comfort/drama) then check out Damaged, here's the link: s/9553795/1/**

**Thanks again!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**Hey everyone! I know its been a while since my last chapter. I'm really sorry about that, my laptop was broken so I had to get a new one, which i just got today. Either way, I'm sorry and I hope you like the new chapter. Enjoy!**

Cloves POV

I scream and Annie drops the knife. She's covered in blood, and I notice that her wrists are slit. Seeing sweet, simple Annie looking like a suicidal pyschopath is terrifying. I want to start screaming again.

She looks at me with crazy in her eyes and I wonder what could have caused her to do this. Then she starts sobbing and I rush toward her. I almost start crying. "What have you done?" I ask, taking her wrists in my hands. She shakes her head. "I deserved this. I said really mean things to Katniss and this is what I get, right?" she says through tears.

I blink back tears of my own. What happened to Annie? This is freaking insane. What the hell is going on today?!

"Annie no! You don't deserve to die. You're sweet and kind and your our Annie. It would kill us if you died, Annie." I say while trying to choke down tears. Annie would never do something like this. This girl, the girl in front of me with crazy in her eyes and blood all over her and slit wrists isn't Annie. Annie isn't like this, not the Annie I know.

I start pulling her by the wrist out the door. She fights me, digging her nails into my wrist and screaming, but I don't stop pulling her along. "Stop it! I'm trying to help you!" i yell at her. I have to drag her just to get her to the hospital ward of the mental home. It isn't very far but with all of her fighting it's making it pretty impossible.

We eventually get there. I stop at the front desk and demand the lady let Annie see a doctor. "Well, what's wrong with her?" she asks in a weird accent. Her tiny lips, which are painted with purple lipstick, barely seem to move as she speaks. What a weirdo. A stupid weirdo that cant even see Annie covered in blood and about to pass out. This angers me.

"CANT YOU TELL SHE TRIED TO KILL HERSELF?!" i yell. Everyone looks at me. I'm so angry at this stupid lady that I hardly care.

The lady looks back at me, suprised. Then her suprise turns to annoyance as she pages a doctor to help Annie."The doctor will see your friend now, Miss." she says in a firm voice. Paramedics show up and carry Annie away.

"Wait!" i shout as they take her into the emergency room. The lady behind the counter looks smug. "You can't go in with her. Its hospital rules. Now take your seat in the waiting room," she says, trying to supress a smile. God, the way people act when you barge in and yell at them. I roll my eyes. "Oh forget your stupid rules." I mumble, even though I sit down either way.

I settle into the seat and sigh. Raking my hands through my hair, I start thinking.

Today started off so good. Cato and I had been dating for a week now and things had been getting pretty serious between us. He had asked me out on a date and was going to pick me up here. But as soon as he came we unfortunatley passed by Mindy's and ran into Katniss. And thats when things started going crazy.

"You know, next time I'm killing Cato for sure." I hear someone say. Crap! I left Cato back up at Katniss's place. He should be OK there... I turn around and find myself looking up at Mindy.

"What the hell do you want Mindy?" I say with as much venom as I can muster up. Of all people, the person i would want to see least right now would be Mindy. Great.

She gives me a dirty look and tilts her head to the side intimidatingly. "Look." she says, "You better tell your stupid boyfriend to leave Katniss alone."

"And what will you do if i don't?"

She rolls her eyes at me. "Don't make me the bad guy here, Clove. Think about who was holding that knife over Katniss's heart and who saved her. Just think about that for a second."

And with that, she's gone.

**Katniss's POV**

I wake up with a horrible ache in my head. When I try and sit up darts of pain shoot through my chest. I wince and land hard back on the floor. Damn it. Where am I anyway?

I look around. Black couch, weapons lining the walls, simple interior. Mindy's place. Of course I'm here, of all places. Where else would I be? I'm hardly home these days anyway.

My hand finds something sticky and, disgusted, I pull my hand away. My hand comes back red. As i figure out what the sticky stuff is the events of today come back to me. I remember everything; arguing with Clove, fighting with Cato, and I'm pretty sure I blacked out after that. Well, PRETTY sure.

I try and shift around in a way to where I can sit up comfortably without hurting my chest too badly. Propped up on my elbows, I scan the room. There are no signs of Cato, Clove, or Mindy. Maybe they went back to Clove's place, or my place. I guess that means I'm all alone here.

I struggle to get to my feet without passing out from how much everywhere in my body hurts. _Its fine Katniss, you can live through the pain, _I think to myself. _You've lived through enough emotional pain, haven't you? _

Once I get to my feet I almost tumble over again. I lean against Mindy's little coffee table and try not to scream. "Mindy!" I yell. Oh, right, shes not here.

The table starts buzzing and it almost makes me jump. Confused, I look on the table and see Mindy's phone going off. Now i feel stupid for thinking the table was actually buzzing. I pick up her phone.

_Blocked Number_

If its blocked, maybe I shouldn't answer it. Who knows who it could be? But against my own word, I pick up the phone and slide across the screen to answer it.

"Hello?"

_"Mindy?" _the male voice says.

"NO, this is Katniss. Mindy's my best friend and I'm wondering why she would be getting a call from someone she blocked. Who is this?"

_"Katniss?" _

"Peeta? What the hell are you doing calling Mindy?!"

The voice takes a minute to respond to me. Typical Peeta. Wait, Mindy told me that Peeta is just some asshole who I shouldnt even bother with, and she clearly told me why. Should I really have to listen to him right now?

_"I don't think- just let me talk to Mindy."_

"No! You should just leave Mindy alone, you jerk! I'm hanging up."

_"Please just tell her I called, I really need to talk to her." _ he pleads.

"Why? So you can break her heart again? Leave her alone." I say and hang up. Just then Mindy walks through the front door.

She raises an eyebrow at me when she sees her phone in my hand. "Peeta called." I say casually, trying to stay upright. I drop to my knees because the pain is spreading to my legs. I almost pass out again.

Mindy's face hardens and she tries not to show any emotion. "What the hell did he want?" she says through clenched teeth. Her hands ball up into fists and she looks angrier than I've ever seen her. Great. I should have just told her she had a missed call or something. Now my statement has mad her mad.

I shrug. She sighs and walks over to me with her arms crossed. Then she stands in front of me with a smirk and gestures towards my discomfort. "Need a little help there?" she says. I roll my eyes and she offers her hand out to me. I take it and she pulls me up forcefully. I make my way over to the sofa and plunk down. Mindy sits at the edge of the sofa and looks at me with a weird expression. "I'm guessing you're wondering what the fuck happened in here." she says, tilting her head toward the mess in her apartment; the sofa cushions everywhere, bloody smears.

I nod. "Well, lets just say I taught Cato a little lesson for what he did to you." she says with an evil smile. I give her a small smile. Leave it to Mindy to save my ass again.

We laugh and she shakes her head. "You really need to learn how to defend yourself Katniss." Her expression then gets serious. "One day I might not be here, you know."

I brush off the thought. If she was suggesting that one day she might just die in an instant, I think of the possibility of that. She's a fifteen year old girl. Come on. Who other than those sluts in the hellish corridors of high school would want her dead?

Well...

"_Katniss Everdeen to the medical ward please." _

The voice over the intercom startles me and Mindy laughs at how I jump up. "Ow!" i exclaim. The pain in my chest gets worse. Mindy nods at the door. "See you at school tommorow?"

I nod as I walk out the door.

_(In the medical ward...)_

I reach the front desk and the woman there looks up from her magazine. "How may I help you sweetheart?" she says, a little bit too entusiastically. I point up at the intercom. "I'm Katniss Everdeen. They called me down here." I respond.

She tries to keep up her fake happiness, but something about my name has changed that.

"Room 304 dear."

I leave and find room 304 with ease. I know this hospital like the back of my hand. I've been here enough times. As I walk into the room I know something's wrong. There are at least five people in the room, and only one of them's a doctor. Behind them there's a bed where Annie lies. There's a woman who resembles Annie a little, with her delicate frame and pretty green eyes. But that's where the similarities stop. This woman has short, straight platinum blond hair, as opposed to Annie's beautiful wavy dark hair. Her skin is paler than Annie's and her face is harsher looking. And by the way I hear her talking to the doctors, I know she's cold and cruel. Its Annies mother. No wonder Annie went insane living with her.

I walk towards Annie slowly and clear my throat. Everyone in the room looks at me. "Um I'm Katniss Everdeen. You guys called me down here." I say. One of the doctors walks toward me with a clipboard. "Yes, we did call you. Miss Everdeen, it appears we have some bad news for you."

The words 'Bad News' make me freeze in my tracks. Annie couldnt-she-what did-

"Miss Everdeen, It appears Annie is no longer suited to live here seeing as her condition is far too severe now. She will be relocated as of tommorow."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that with school and all, my chapters might be shorter or something since I have homework and other things to do so, yea. Well, I hope you like this chapter. Please read and review! **

Katniss's POV

The words echo through my brain again and again. _Relocated...as of tommorow... _Annie...is moving?

Words tumble out of me before I can stop them. "NO! YOU'RE NOT TAKING HER AWAY!" I yell. Everyone in the room stares at me in shock. I slap my hand over my mouth and back away a little. "I-i'm sorry. It's just...Annie is perfectly fine here! I don't think someone like you has the right to send her away."

The doctor puts a hand on my shoulder and I tense up. I almost want to snap him in half. Wow. That sounds like something Mindy would be thinking. She would be proud.

I shrug away from him. He looks at me with a confused expression, I don't know why. What, I am supposed to just get by with someone I don't even know trying to comfort me or something? Wow.

"I'm sorry. This hospital has the right to do what is best for . No one can stop this from happening except Annie's mother. And both her mother and this hospital think relocating her to a more standard, private institution would be best. As her roommate, you get no say in this." he says. I scowl at him. Then I walk over to Annie's mother.

She shoots me a dirty, snobbish look. "Yes. I completely agree that my Annie shouldn't have to be around the likes of these people anymore." she sneers.

I lash out at her with my fingernails and claw her face. One of the doctors pulls me away from her. "NO THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" I scream at her. Annie wakes up at looks at me with wide eyes. "K-katniss?" she says in a low voice. When I try to get near her the doctor who has her arms around me tightens her grip. I kick her and fight as much as I can. "Annie!"

Annie sits up and walks over to me. I'm suprised they didn't strap her down.

She shushes me and takes my hand, which is currently trying to scratch the doctor's eyes out. "Katniss. This is what has to happen. I know its hard, but sometimes we just have to let what happens happen, especially if its for your own good." she says. I look at her, confused. She knew? And she agreed to it?!

"Annie. You can't leave. You're like my sister, you can't leave now. Please, do something. You can't just go. I need you Annie, more than ever. Please." I say, starting to cry. She just shushes me again. "This is what needs to happen. I can't be around you any more. What if I hurt you? Katniss, think about you, and Clove, and Johanna. If I hurt you I would never be able to forgive myself. Don't you understand that?"

I shake my head again. A tear slides down my face as I say, "Go ahead, hurt me. If it means you don't have to go you can kill me. I don't care."

She laughs, although she's crying too.

"I know you don't, but I do." she murmurs. I shake my head at her. "Annie. Please, I'm begging you, don't leave. Please, I would do anything to make you stay."

By now the doctor has released me, so I immeadiately wrap Annie in a hug. Tears slide down both of our cheeks. I want to start sobbing, start screaming, anything to make her stay. But then I realize something;

I could only make her stay if she still wanted to stay. And Annie doesn't want to stay, she thinks it would be best if she left. The only thing that would happen if she left is she'd take a huge chunk of my happiness with her.

I'm not going to let that happen.

I pull away from her, grab her shoulders and look her straight in the eye. "You're not leaving. No, I will make you stay Annie. I won't let you go this easily." I say firmly. Just then an attendant arrives with Annie's suitcases. Annie looks at me, as if to say, _This is what has to be done._

But it wasn't. This is stupid, because, can't they just put Annie in a different wing, a different room, as opposed to across the state, or even across the country? I thought I had a right to get fair treatment, and taking my sister (well, closer than my sister) away from me like this wasn't fair.

I hate being a teenager. I bet if I was an adult I could someone sign some papers and Annie would be in my care. As a teenager, I have no control over my life, and I wanted to take charge.

"Katniss?" Annie said softly.

She pulls me out of my thoughts. I try to avoid looking at her so I don't feel even sadder than I already am. Again she hugs me. This time, we don't pull apart so quickly.

And at that moment, I decide that I have to accept that this is what Annie wants, and that it really is what would be best. At least if I've made my peace with this, it won't hurt so much when she's gone.

"Bye Annie." I whisper.

"Bye Katniss."

I watch as my best friend in the world walks out the door, to a place where I'll never be able to see her face to face again.

**Thanks for reading. I know it was short, but the next chapter should be up soon. Please review! Thanks again!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**Hey people! So this chapter is going to be longer than the last one, so that's something to mention. Thanks for reading my fanfic, by the way. Please tell me what you think. Read and review!**

Katniss's POV

I slowly trudge back up to my room and plunk down on the bed. While I'm alone, all I want to do is cry, and let everything I feel about Annie leaving out. But the only thing I can find myself doing is feeling numb, unaware of the pain. Sure, for now...

Under the comforter I hear a crackling sound. I pull down the covers of the bed until it's left with a bare mattress. On the mattress lies a folded piece of paper with my name written in Annie's sweet handwriting. I freeze when I see it. I don't want to open it, don't want to hear whatever she had to say just yet.

But then I find myself opening up the paper and reading over each sentence a thousand times.

_Dear Katniss,_

_I have to leave. I know by the time you open this I'll be gone, but maybe, on some chance, you would have found it before you came home to this empty room. Anyway;_

_I'm really sorry about my choice to leave (and yes, it was my choice :( ) but what everyone here is saying is right, I'm becoming a danger to you, if that's even possible. _

_The doctors told me that I'm going to start having severe flashbacks, when one of my bad memories comes up and to me it feels like real life, and I could think you're someone bad and try to hurt you (or Johanna, Clove, even Mindy, although she can take care of herself) and trying to stop me from doing so would just harm me._

_Katniss, I want to tell you that I'll miss you most of all. You became my sister, you didn't think I was weird or creepy, you accepted who I was, and hardly anyone does. Thank you._

_Do me a favor and don't replace me with Mindy while I'm gone. I don't like that girl, but you do, so...just don't become her sister or anything like you did with me. She gives me a bad feeling. Nevermind, I'm sure you wouldn't like me talking bad about her._

_Someday I might be back, I don't know when, but if the doctors are able to cure me in such a short time then it will be soon( :) ). _

_Thanks for everything. I promise I'll write, call, text, or videochat every chance I get. Promise me you'll do the same. I've written my address in case you write. I'll still have the same phone and all so don't worry about that. Anyhow, just please,contact me._

_Love,_

_Annie._

The tears that I've wanted have finally come out, spilling onto the paper and leaving the words runny. My phone buzzes in my pocket and I whip it out without another doubt, knowing it must be Annie.

But it turns out that its Mindy. I pick up the phone and say, "Hey Min. What's up?"

_"Come over." _she says, sounding worried.

I hang up immeadiatley and start running over to Mindy's. Mindy never, ever, sounds worried, so this could be really serious. I find her room and start pounding on the door. "Mindy!" I yell. She doesn't open for a while, and when she does, I know something's wrong.

Her eyes are red and she looks awful, with messy hair and a tear streaked face. I almost don't recognize her.

I'm about to speak when she pulls me inside. I notice things broken. A cup lies shattered on the floor, and the screen on her phone is cracked. Now I really know something's wrong, she only breaks things when something upsets her.

"Mindy? Wha-what?" I start to say as she pulls me into a hug. She starts crying, which is something she never does, or at least I've never seen her do. I hug her back, especially since I know how strong she is, and for her to be crying, something terrible must have happened, like, the world ended or something.

I shush her and make her look me in the eye. "Whats wrong?" i ask. She shakes her head. "I'm fine. It's just- I-" she starts. "You what, Mindy? Whatever you did, It cant be that bad."

"M-my dad...my dad's dead, Katniss."

She breaks down in tears again.

I've heard so much about Mindy's dad. He was the only one in her family, it was just her and her dad. He taught her everything, how to survive, how to use every single weapon ever made, all of those things. But one day, that changed when Mindy came to the hospital. She hasn't told me why, or when it happened. I just know she loved her dad more than anyone in the world.

I don't want to tell her it will be Ok, that things will get better in no time, because they don't; they get worse as the days go on. You feel so lost, confused, and misunderstood, and you don't want to go on anymore. And at the same time, you feel empty. That's why I don't even want to ask: because it only makes it worse.

She pulls away from me and walks over to her room. She comes back with a picture in her hand, which she places in mine. "That was him." she says, her voice breaking. I take the picture and look over it. There's a sweet looking little girl in the photo, who I know must be Mindy. I smile at the little girl with pigtails and the knife in her hand. There's the Mindy I know. The man next to her looks like her so much, except his hair is a little darker and his eyes are a shade greener than hers. She's looking at the camera with a sickly sweet smile, and he's beaming down at her, looking like a proud father. I wonder who actually took the photo, knowing that Mindy never mentioned her mother.

Mindy, meanwhile, is trying not to break down again. I smile at her and say, "He looks like an awesome dad." She nods at me. "He was."

Just then someone pounds at the door.

Mindy and I look at each other, both saying, "I'll get it.", even though I end up walking to the door and swinging the door open. Who I see is a complete shock to me. The police.

"Um what seems to be-" i start.

"Are you Katniss Everdeen, and is Mindy Damon here as well?"

I raise an eyebrow. I guess I have to answer though. Oh god, what did Mindy do?

"Yes and yes. Why?" I ask calmly, even though I'm pretty sure Mindy must have killed someone or something being angry over her fathers death.

The cops pull out two pairs of handcuffs just as Mindy shows up beside me at the door. "You two are under arrest for assault and battery."

**Mindy's POV**

"I didn't do anything Katniss, god. Calm down." I exclaim, positioning myself on the cold metal bench.

Katniss paces around the cell, breathing heavy and practically hyperventilating. "I know Mindy..." she says. I just roll my eyes. God, the way she's acting makes me want to slap her. It's not we're in here for life or anything. We haven't even been taken in for questioning yet and she's already freaking the hell out.

She finally sits down beside me, sighing. "You're right. I bet the person who blamed it on you doesn't even know you." she says. I nod. "Yea, my victims usually don't remember."

She looks at me with a scared look on her face and I burst out in laughter for the first time since my dad's death. "I'm just fucking with you Katniss. You had to see the look on your face. Hysterical." She punches my arm, which I barely even feel, and shoots me an angry glance. "Mindy. This is no time to be joking. This is serious! We could end up in jail!" she yells.

I laugh again. "Calm your ass down. We'll be fine. Once they analyse the finger prints they'll know we didn't do shit." I say. She just mumbles, "I know." I roll my eyes for the third time since we got to the jail. "Then shut the hell up, and just wait for the questioning to start."

Two cops arrive at our cell. One of them pulls out some keys and opens our cell. The other grabs us each by the arm and pulls us along. "Watch your hands asshole." I sneer. The cop grips my arm harder. "You have the right to remain silent miss Damon." I mock him and he frowns.

We get to the interrogation room. Katniss and I take our seats in the hard metal chairs and I mentally perpare myself for a long, boring lecture.

"So apparently you two girls are charged with the assault of Peeta Mellark."

If I was eating, I'd be choking. How can they charge us with the assault of an asshat I haven't seen since...I don't even fucking know! "Woah woah woah. Hold the fuck up. We haven't seen Peeta since almost a month ago. He hasn't been in school, we haven't heard from him and I certainly haven't seen him in a while. So what's the point of this whole thing if you have no evidence to back up the fact that we jacked up some guy who we havent seen in a long time?" I say.

The female cop slams her hand down on the table. "Don't question the law Ms. Damon. You have no right to deny what three witnesses have already confirmed."

Oh please, who are their witnesses? Cato? Glimmer? Marvel? I should have known those assholes were planning some petty revenge scheme ever since they found out that I kicked Cato's ass. What a trio of-

"Ms. Damon you realize that you can be thrown in jail at any time. I hardly believe Ms. Everdeen was an accomplice in this, but according to your record, which involve almost murdering a man, stabbing a nurse-"

"Would you prefer the nurse inject me without my father's approval?"

"Stop interrupting. The bottom line is, you have problems, and you clearly have enough reason to commit the crime, so why can't you just admit you did it?"

I roll my eyes, making sure the cops can see me do so. "Because I didn't do it. What's your proof, I mean real proof? Not some lies three assholes told you?" I say. The cops consult one another. The female one finally decides on what she has to say.

"Unfortunatley, Ms. Damon, you happen to be correct. Therefore, we have to let you go until we have more proof. But we will see you both here in a month for court." she says.

I laugh. "You got to let me go huh? God, you cops crack me up. To you fuckers, some assholes talking on a cell phone while driving is more important than a woman being mugged, and by the time you get there, the woman's dead and the mugger is long gone. Well, see you in a month when we still won't go to jail."

I take Katniss and walk out of the jail. She high fives me and laughs. "You've got guts Mindy. I could never say that to a cop without my own guilt eating me alive. I admire you."

I just shake my head smiling.

"Yeah, they all do."

**Thanks for reading! The next chapter should be up tommorow. Tell me what you think, please read and review. Thanks again :)!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

**Hey people! I know I said this chapter would be up a day or two ago, but I just got a little caught up in things. As you might have guessed, I've been a little busy with schoolwork and other things, but anyway, I apologize for not writing until today. Thanks for reading my fanfic. Please read and review. Enjoy!**

Katniss's POV

I turn off the T.V. and stretch out on the sofa, pulling the blanket up over me. Mindy yawns, stretches and stands up. "Well, it's been an _interesting _day, but I better head back now." she says with another yawn. Since we got back from our stay in prison (for what, two hours?) we've been hanging out at my place, watching movies. I've been trying to get my mind off of things, like Peeta, and court, and all that drama we'll have to face at school Monday, and I know Mindy's been trying to do the same. She's hardly spoken a word all night, and I know it's because of her dad. I've been trying not to bring up anything that would set her off.

She starts heading for the door. Giving me a little wave, she places one hand on the knob and mutters a quick goodbye. "See you tomorrow?" I ask her. She just gives me a thumbs up and walks out the door. I settle into the couch, and close my eyes. Just as I start drifting off, the intercom clicks to life, making me jump.

_"Katniss Everdeen to the main office, please."_

I groan and roll my eyes. Great. This is probably about the court thing, or something Mindy did. They've asked me to keep an eye on her at least five times this past week, to make sure she stays out of trouble. I laughed when they asked me to do that. Mindy, stay out of trouble? It was hilarious.

Climbing down the flights of stairs to the main office, I yawn again. Why did they have to pull me out of bed for this? Whatever it is, I'm almost one hundred percent sure that it could wait until morning. Although, when I get there, I get a huge suprise.

My little sister waits for me at the door of the main office. I run over to her and hug her. 'What are you doing here?' I sign. She smiles at me. 'I came to see you.' she replies. I guess now I know that this _couldn't _wait until morning. Hell, I would have come at three in the morning just to see Prim.

'I get to stay for a whole week!' she signs happily. I grin from ear to ear. Having Prim here is going to be a huge change from all of the bad things that have happened lately. Maybe she can even lift Mindy's spirit. Prim has an odd gift for that sort of thing, just giving people warmth, and making people happy. I envy her for that, for her innocence and carelessness. But I guess I only have myself to blame for no longer being innocent.

I tell Prim to go and wait up in my room, give her the key, and send her I walk over to the lady in the office and ask, "What's the situation here?" The lady shuts the door and waltzes back over to me. "Her foster parents sent her here for the week because they wanted her out of the house for a while. The sad thing is, I have a feeling they aren't coming back for her." she says quietly, although Prim is nowhere to be seen.

What she said makes me wanna cry. What kind of people would leave a sweet little girl on her own, with no way to get home and only a weeks worth of luggage. That's just mean. Then again, the woman said it was only a feeling she had, she didn't know for sure. I wish I didn't know either, but the awful thing was, I knew what people were like. People were mean, cold, and cunning who would actually leave a poor little girl on her own. I wanted to punch her foster parents in the face.

"And if they don't come back, what would happen to Prim?" I ask, worried. The woman shrugs. "Well, we'd either have to find her another family, or she could live in this building, even though there's nothing wrong with her." she states casually. I freeze. Prim could live here with me...? That would...I'm not sure what that would be. I don't know if Prim would even be the slightest bit happy here.

"We'll talk later." I say dismissively as I walk up back to my room.

**Prim's POV**

I sit on the sofa watching T.V. in Katniss's room. I grab the remote, turn on the captions (because otherwise, how am I supposed to understand what's going on?) and snuggle up against the plush cushions. Katniss has been gone for a little bit now, I wonder what's keeping her. Out of the corner of my eye, I see someone walk into the room. I jump up before I notice that it's that girl, Mindy. I breathe a sigh of relief just as she notices that I'm not Katniss.

She pulls a pen and pad of paper off of Katniss's desk and writes something, then hands it to me.

_Hey Primrose, nice seeing you again. Do you know where Katniss is?_

I shake my head and write, _No. She picked me up at the main office, sent me back here and hasn't come back since. It's been about fifteen minutes. I wonder what stopped her._

_Well, if you see her, tell her I need to talk to her. Its SUPER important. And again, it was cool seeing you, _Mindy writes. I nod and give a little wave. Right after she leaves, someone else shows up. I sigh. I'm tired, and really not in the mood to write to someone else right now.

The person I see walk in is one I don't recognize. He has blond hair, and really blue eyes. He stumbles in on crutches and I tilt my head to the side in confusion. Why would some weird guy be visiting Katniss at midnight? This is kind of creepy.

The boy says something I can't quite catch, since he moves his lips too fast. He raises an eyebrow when I don't respond. I point to my ear and shake my head, and he nods. I hand him the pad and paper. He scrawls something out and hands it back to me.

_I'm really sorry. I didn't know you were deaf. My name's Peeta, by the way. Is Katniss here?_

_It's Ok, _I write, _My name's Prim, I'm her little sister. She's not here._

_Oh, _is all he writes back.

_I can take a message for her if that's what you want._

_I just need to talk to her, that's all. _

_Ok. Are you her friend? _I write.

_Um...Kind of. _

_Well, you seem nice enough :) Why aren't you friends?_

_You don't want to hear it._

_Yes I do, _I write, raising an eyebrow at him.

_It's a long story. _he writes.

_I have tons of time._

_Fine. It's just...she's never liked me, not from the start. We met on the first day of school, I was trying to be nice to her, but she ignored me. Then she met this girl named Mindy, who I used to date, and Mindy told her bad things about me. That's why she won't bother talking to me. I'm only here because I need to tell her something...Wow. I've never opened up with anyone like this. Sorry._

_It's Okay, and don't worry about it. Katniss is like that with everyone._

At that moment Katniss walks in.

**Peeta's POV**

"What are you doing here?!" Katniss yells. Prim looks at her and signs something to her, which Katniss ignores.

"I needed to talk to you or Mindy, and Mindy threatened to pull my lungs out through my nose if I ever showed up on her doorstep again, so you can assume-" I start to say.

"You can assume nothing. Just stay away from my little sister and get out." Katniss says with her fists clenched. I wave at Prim as a goodbye and walk out just as Prim and Katniss start arguing in sign language. Shutting the door behind me, I balance on my crutches and start hobbling down the hallway.

I brush past someone roughly and mumble, "Sorry." The person looks back at me and says, "You'll be sorry when I'm done with you, Peeta." I recognize the voice and groan. "What now Mindy?" I say with an eye roll.

She scoffs. "What? Did you actually think I ran into you on purpose or something? Ugh, never." I just start walking past her when she grabs my arm with a tight grip. I wince. "Um...Peeta?" she asks sweetly. I raise an eyebrow at her. "Yea?"

She twists my arm back and I cry out in pain. "What did you tell the cops?!" she says. I shake my head. "N-nothing." I reply in pain. She tilts her head to the side and grabs my other arm. "Why don't we take this inside?" she asks, gesturing towards her room. "Y-yea. Sure."

Once we get inside she releases me and slams me down onto the sofa. I look up at her and ask, "What do you want with me?" She shakes her head, as if to tell me, _don't play dumb_."I know you told the cops Katniss and I did that to you." she sneers. I roll my eyes. "Mindy, if this is some sort of joke-"

She slaps me, hard, and I cry out in pain. "Mindy, I didn't tell the cops anything!" I yell at her. She just frowns and crosses her arms. "If you didn't, who did?" she demands. I look into her eyes. "Mindy. I would never-" I start to say. She cuts me off with, "You would never do what, Peeta? Break my heart? Ruin my life? Hurt me? Well, here's a little newsflash for you- you did all those things!"

Silence fills the air for a few moments after that. Every time we speak, this ends up happening, one of us says something that makes the other want to shoot themselves. Well, here's a newsflash for Mindy- she just made me feel like that.

Mindy stops looking at me and her gaze falls to the floor. I see something flash across her face, something that looks like sadness, or guilt, meaning something I've rarely seen on Mindy. It's really weird, when you see someone like Mindy act scared, or sad, or even show any emotion. Mindy's usually so brave, careless, things like that.

Mindy walks across the room and opens the front door. "You should probably go now." she says with a blank face. I shake my head. "No. I'm just so sick and tired of you making me feel horrible then just ignoring me for a week, then you repeat this whole thing again. Mindy, you don't understand what happened! I never meant to hurt you, why would I?"

She doesn't look at me, she just holds the door open, waiting for me to leave. But I had decided I wasn't going to leave, I was going to stay this time. Mindy had to know that I never meant to break her heart, and I was going to try as hard as I can to convince her that it was never meant to happen that way.

I look her straight in the eye and hold her gaze for a couple of seconds, hoping to somehow plead with her to let me talk to her. Whatever look I gave her, it seemed to have worked, because eventually, she sighs and shuts the door with a slam. She pulls her phone out of her pocket. "Ok. It's 12:37. You have five minutes." she says coldly, then pulls out a chair and sits down in front of me.

"Mindy, it's not my fault that our relationship can't blame me for this." I say. She checks the time again. "Four minutes." she says calmly, my words having no effect on her. "I don't think you understand what I'm trying to tell you. I never wanted to hurt you. Please, try to look at it from my point of view," I say, trying to be nice with her.

"OK, let me see it from your point of view. Well, I'm Peeta. I kissed another girl when I was dating Mindy, and whoops, now she doesn't want to talk to me. Poor me, I did something incredibly stupid, and she won't forgive me, I wonder why! I broke Mindy's heart, and now she wants to break mine. How unfair! There, how did you like me seeing it from your point of view?" Mindy yells.

There's more awkward silence after that. Eventually I get my crutches, stand up, and start to walk out the door."I'm sorry, Mindy." I say. When I'm halfway out the door, Mindy grabs my arm and I turn around to face her. We look each other in the eye and wait for the other person to say something.

Right when she's about to speak, I grab her face and pull her lips to mine. At first, she shoves me off of her, and asks, "What about Katniss?" I just shrug. "It's not like we're going out."

My lips crash into hers again and she wraps her arms around me. And for once, neither one of us stops it.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

**Hey everyone! Before I start, I just want to ask you something; do you guys want this story to be uber-long, more than 30 chapters? I know where this story is going, I just don't know how much longer to make it. In a review, tell me your opinion on how much longer you'd like this story to be. With your help, I can decide, you guys just influence me so much :) anyway, I hope you like this chapter. I promise they'll come sooner now. Enjoy!**

Katniss's POV

_The next day, at school..._

"So you're telling me, absolutely nothing happened last night?" I ask as Mindy and I walk down the hall. She shoots me a mean glance. "God, nothing happened! What do you think happened?" she argues. I just shrug. "I don't know. But I do know that you haven't talked all morning, you didn't eat breakfast, and now you're barely paying attention in class! Well, that's nothing new, but still..."

She rolls her eyes. "I'm sorry. I've just been a little sick, OK?" The bell rings and all the students in the hall scurry along and run to class. Mindy turns around and gives me a wave. "Gotta get to gym. We're starting a new course on weaponry." She smiles after she says that. "Later!" I wave and head on to my own class, art. I walk in and notice that Peeta isn't here, which is strange, since no matter what, he always shows up for art. Whatever, why should I care what classes he's in? After what he did, told the cops what Mindy and I supposedly did, I shouldn't care if he dies. Maybe that's what Mindy was up to last night...

I take my seat and take out my drawing supplies. Art is the one class that I actually enjoy, considering it involves almost no learning. Well, that's not true, but at least this class isn't hard. I've never been to great at school, which is usually why I just zone out during class. It's the only thing to do beside listen to a stupid teacher babble on about stuff I don't even need to know.

"Is this seat taken?" a male voice asks. I roll my eyes. "Peeta I already told you-" I snap, looking up into pretty hazel eyes. The figure before me has dark golden hair that's perfectly styled, and hazel eyes with flecks of gold in them. The voice I thought was Peeta's belongs to the (fine, I'll admit it) attractive person before me.I quickly apologize. "I am so, so, so, sorry. I thought you were someone else..."

He laughs. "It's fine, I always have random girls calling me Peeta and telling me to piss off." I laugh with him and offer my hand. "Katniss. Katniss Everdeen." He takes my hand (which gives me a really weird feeling in my stomach...) and says back, "Scott Owens."

I point towards the seat next to me and Scott takes the seat. He takes out his backpack and digs around a bit. "So, how what grade are you in?" he asks quietly, just as the teacher starts some lesson on painting. I take a minute to answer. If I was in ninth grade when the 'incident' happened...nevermind that, a reminder of that day is all it takes to bring the hallucinations back...

"Tenth. I'm in tenth grade." I say a little too loudly. The students at my table look at us and I roll my eyes. Scott is about to say something, but I cut him off. "Just leave it be. There are some real assholes at this school, just try to ignore 'em." I whisper to him. He turns back to me. "Anyway, I'm in tenth too. Can I see your schedule?" I hand him the blue slip of paper and he compares it to his. "Looks like we have all our classes together." He says with a smile. I smile back.

"Well it sounds like he wants to hook up with you." Mindy says. I've just told her about Scott, and so far, she's had nothing but bad things to say about him. I slam my locker shut and cross my arms. "Ok, not every guy out there is a complete asshole, alright? Why are you so ticked off today?" I ask her. She slams her locker shut too, in anger as well. "I'm not ticked off! I'm...just...I just have a headache. I'll be OK. Now please, let's quit arguing." she says.

We start walking out of the school, towards the bus. Walking in, we still see no signs of Peeta. We both breathe a sigh of relief and take our seats near the back of the bus. I sigh as I settle down into the worn leather, and wonder how Prim is doing up in my room back at the institute. The hospital wouldn't let her enroll in school until they know what the situation is, so for now, she's stuck there all day with the T.V. and the cozy sofa. Poor Prim.

The bus hobbles to life and starts moving down along the cracked streets. I almost fly out of my seat when the bus runs over a rock and almost kills everyone in the bus with all of it's bumping. My head got knocked at least three times, and right now, Mindy's trying to hold in a scream from all the pain. All day I've heard about this stupid headache of her's. I honestly would pay a million dollars to cure it right now. If you think Mindy's bad on a good day, wait 'till you see her sick, or in pain. Imagine if she was pregnant...

Something cold trickles down my back, and I whip my head around angrily. "What the-" I start to say, just as Glimmer dumps the rest of the contents of her water bottle on me, making me furious. She laughs, "Oops! Looks like I missed a spot!" she says, rubbing the liquid all over my face.

I stand up, ignoring the main rule to sit down at all times while the bus is moving, and walk over to her, fists clenched. "You are so dead Glimmer!" I yell at her. Mindy, who dozed off a while ago, hears the commotion, wakes up and steps in front of me defensively. "Katniss, let me handle this." she says. She walks up to Glimmer, grabs her by the collar of her jacket, and snarls, "Don't mess with my friends, you bitch."

Glimmer just nervously laughs, trying to keep calm. "Or what?" she says. Mindy chokes her with the collar and frowns. "Look. You already ruined my life, and I'm sure as hell not gonna let you ruin my best friend's life, too.I don't care if you ARE my sister, I bet you're happy dad died anyway, so you could move in with you dick of a boyfriend! " Mindy says, getting angrier by the second. Glimmer stops smiling and her eyes widen in fear. "You wouldn't do it!" she says nervously. Mindy smiles. "Oh, but I would, sister..."

Mindy drops her back in her seat. "But I won't do it this time." Glimmer tries to regain her cool composure in front of her friends, to no avail. Mindy grabs my arm and pulls me away from Glimmer and her slut friends, who try to act tough now that their leader has been shot down. "Thanks again, Mindy. I owe you, like a lot." I say once we reach our seats again. She just shakes her head. "No, you don't. You're my friend, Katniss. You don't owe me anything."

The bus stops at the institute and we hop off. Starting to head back up to our rooms, we walk out into the street, completely unaware of the speeding car that is coming towards us until it is three feet away.

**Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you like it. A big thanks to all my lovely reviewers, and a special thanks to EpicBlonde52 for recommending my story to your readers, and another special thanks to Rubiksmaniac for frequently reviewing my story. I will be back with the next chapter very soon, hopefully tommorow. Thanks for reading, please review! See you next chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

**Hello people of the internet! So yesterday, I asked whether you guys wanted this story to be long or not. Most people voted for a longer story, so that's what I'm gonna do. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Enjoy!**

Mindy's POV

The car makes contact with Katniss and I. With the impact of the crash, I'm thrown down out onto the street. Katniss lies near the side of the car, unconscious. I groan and touch the welt on my head, my hand coming back bloody. I roll over to the sidewalk, making sure I don't get hit again.

The person in the car looks left and right, then backs away, driving off in the opposite direction from the institute. What an asshole.

Quickly, I check myself for any major injuries, what my dad told me to do in case of a real emergency, one I couldn't punch my way out of. For the most part, I guess I'm alright. There are a couple of shards of glass in my legs, no big deal. I'm pretty sure I have a couple of broken ribs, which really hurts, but isn't enough to kill me. It'll take a lot more than this to take me out. I breathe in and out deeply, trying to keep myself from passing out at the pain in my chest and head.

I start pulling the large pieces of glass out of my leg, wincing, when I notice that Katniss is still in the middle of the street. Shit! If she gets killed by a car, who else am I going to have to keep me sane? Pain shoots through me as I try and stand up, and I hold in a scream. _Take it like a man, Mindy. Your dad wouldn't have wanted you acting like a scared little bitch over a little injury, so suck it up, _I tell myself. In an emergency, the smarter thing to do isn't to call 911 and sit in a corner crying until they get there. If you want to survive, you have to take action.

Once I discover that moving my legs, standing up, and walking would be difficult with my injuries exposed, I rip off my jacket, tear off one sleeve, and wrap it around my worst cut, which is gushing blood like there's no tommorow. With the other sleeve, I wrap around my head, trying to stop the flow of blood from getting any worse. There's no time to worry about any of my minor cuts and scrapes right now. Right now, the only thing I should be worrying about is getting Katniss out of the street.

I start walking down the street, just realizing that my ankle's broken. I ignore it for now, even though every time I step I get reminded it's there. _Just keep going, suck it up. _ Eventually, I reach Katniss. I drop to my knees and try to check for injuries as fast as I can. Everything seems to be right, not counting a cut on her forehead and a dislocated shoulder. I grab her arm and try to lift her up, grunting in frustration when I almost tumble over on top of her. I've got to stop acting like I'm really all that hurt when really nothing's wrong with me, there are bigger problems right now. Then why does the pain in my body keep suggesting otherwise?

I discover that, unfortunatley, I'm going to need someone's help, as much as I'd hate that. I hate admitting that. To me, it shows a lot a weakness when you can't do something easy on your own, and this would usually be really easy for me. I am strong, after all. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I notice that a woman is running out of the building, alarmed at the sight of two teenage girls looking like they barely survived a blood bath. Well, this woman was gonna have to suck it up, it was just a little blood.

She makes her way toward us and kneels down beside Katniss. "What happened to you two?!" she asks, as if it wasn't obvious enough. I roll my eyes. "Got hit...by..car..." I say, each word making me a little more breathless and making my chest hurt more. I start to feel light headed and try and keep myself awake. _Stay awake, Mindy! _I order myself. _How stupid would fainting be right now? This is an actual emergency, not just one of those drills you had with dad. Focus!_

While the woman pulls out her phone and dials 911, I try and remember what that guy in the car had looked like. I couldn't see the license plate, but if I remember the face, I can probably put a name to it. There are only a few people who would visit this hospital, and I know the names of most of them.

A few minutes later, EMTs' rush out of the hospital and come over to us. I feel myself start to slip away at that time, and this time, I can't stop it from happening.

_"Mindy, honey, remember your training, and everything will be fine, I promise you." my dad says._

_It was the third emergency drill we'd had that week, and so far, I hadn't been the least bit successful; the robber had gotten away, the gunman shot me, and the fire had burned me to death (all just simulations, but still pretty tough on a nine year old girl). In a real emergency, I would be dead._

_In this simulation, I had to escape a burning building before it reached the underground parking deck, made contact with some gasoline, and exploded. I had taken this test three times before, and failed every time. This time, I was determined to make it out alive. _

_I leaped over the burning desks, scooted away from the fiery bodies of the dead, and shot every water fountain so that they would spurt out water. The whole object of this simulation was to help me make it out on my own, but daddy had to help me every time. Not this time, though. I had gotten farther than I ever had, and I had almost reached the end. Unfortunately, that was when I ran out of ammo, and I had just reached the boss too. In order to beat the boss, you had to shoot him down before he burned you, too. Which was going to be hard, seeing as I had no ammo. The "flames" were about to reach my heart when my daddy swooped in and killed the guy for me. He takes me in his arms, and presses the button on my goggles to turn the simulation off. "Mindy, you need to learn to bring extra ammo honey, or use another weapon." he said, a bit dissapointed. _

_I nod. "I know daddy. But knives wouldn't have been enough, and swords or tongs wouldn't make an impact on anything. So I guess next time I'll bring more ammo. Well, if I'm ever in a real emergency..." I trail off. My dad just laughed. "Oh, honey, emergencies are left and right everywhere. I just need you to be prepared for anything, especially something that daddy can't handle all on his own." _

_I take this in. "But, daddy can I ask you something?" I ask._

_"Yes Mindy?"_

_I squirm out of his arms. "It's just...what if one day, you're not with me, or not there to save me?" _

_He smiles sadly. "I will always be with you, whether I'm alive or not. And, trust me, soon enough you'll know how to handle big things all by yourself." _

_"Alright." I smile widely. "I love you daddy."_

_My dad smiled back at me. "I love you too, Mindy."_

I wake up, my eyes snapping open. Bright lights startle me as I look up and try to look around, scanning my surroundings.

The air smells sharp, like chemicals. Walls that are bright white and fluorescent lights flood my vision. Slight beeping and humming sounds drone from all around. I'm in the hospital.

I'm strapped down to the poorly matted bed, and I instantly try to fight my way out. In the bed next to me lies an unconscious Katniss, looking clean and unharmed. Whatever drug they have me on starts to kick in the minute the pain comes back and I sigh in relief. God, if only I had some of this stuff for back at my place. As a matter of fact, I think I'll steal some...

"Mindy?" A shrill, girly voice says, the one I know belongs to one of the people I hate most. I sit up, untangling myself from the straps (another skill I learned from my dad) and put my hands around her neck. "What do you want, Glimmer?" I snarl at Glimmer. My hands loosen their grip only a little bit, just so she can speak. I'm this close to killing her right now, and if it weren't for my current trouble with the police involving everything that happened to Peeta, I would snap her neck. Lucky for her, I can't affored that kind of trouble right now. Glimmer looks at me with wide eyes. "I didn't even know dad was dead! You can't blame me for not feeling sad about something I didn't even know about!" she snaps at me. My grip tightens around her neck.

"What do you mean, you didn't know?! It was on the freaking news for God's sake!" I say, furious at her. She's obviously lying, probably to make herself look good. "First of all, I don't watch the news! Second of all, mom never said anything about dad dying!" she exclaims, her emerald eyes containing a look I can only describe as blame, as if this whole thing was my fault! Wow, typical Glimmer!

"Don't say mom, she's not my mom, she's YOUR mom. My mom died, and our dad married your mother, who did nothing but take his money and break his heart! I'm glad that she ran off with you, instead of taking us both! At least my mom wasn't a slut like yours!" I say, anger taking over. Glimmer slaps me. I lunge out at her and slap her back. "Take that back! You know it's not true!" she yells through tears. I cross my arms and sneer, "You know it is!"

Glimmer wipes the tears off of her face. "Whatever! You're just SO jealous that I ended up being the prettier one!" she shouts. If she was trying to hurt me, that was a pretty lame try at doing so. She knows I couldn't care less about being pretty, she just brought it up because she thinks she can use it against people, like it's some sort of weapon. Oh please, the only weapon she knows how to use is a nail file. I roll my eyes. "I don't give a shit. Now would you tell me why you're here, before the only reason you remember being at this hospital today was because it was the day I kicked your ass so hard you lost the ability to walk!"

She pulls herself together enough to address me calmly. "Well, my mom and I were talking, and we were started talking about, organizing a funeral for dad. I mean, if you want to do that sort of thing..." she trails off. Her gaze falls to the floor. For once, I allow myself to believe whatever crap she's spewing, and give in. Just, this once, I'll allow myself to listen to her.

I take a deep breath. "Well, that's not really a bad idea, actually...I would actually like that." I say with no emotion. I don't know if my dad would have wanted a funeral, or a memorial, or even a spot in the cemetary, but I want something left behind for him, something that would symbolize his life, how important it was. When my mom died, all they did was bury her, with no funeral, and no headstone to remember her by. I honestly don't even know her full name, or when she was born. After all, when someone dies the second you're born, you don't get much of a chance to get to know them. Sometimes, I look over her life, all the things she did. She was so smart, so pretty, and she had so many opportunities. She killed herself for nothing.

"OK." Glimmer says calmly. I release my hands from Glimmer's neck and reply, "Of course.

"My mom already died for nothing, and I'm sure as hell not going to let our dad die for nothing too."

Glimmer puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Absoulutely not."

**Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be up very, very soon (I hope) although it might be short. Please review. See you next chapter! :D**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

**Hello people of the internet! This chapter is short, yes, but the next one should be up soon. Please read and review. Enjoy, my friends!**

Katniss's POV

"Does it really matter if Mindy wears a dress to the funeral or not?!" I yell, trying to stop the fight between Glimmer and Mindy. They just started planning the funeral and already they're fighting. At least poor little Prim doesn't have to hear this, although every five seconds she asks for a translation (which I don't give, because some of the stuff Mindy says is stuff Prim REALLY doesn't need to be hearing).

"It's not a freaking wedding! If I don't want to wear a dress, I won't wear one!" Mindy shouts. Prim taps me on the shoulder again. 'Prim, please. I need to get these two to stop fighting. They're just having some disagreements right now.' I sign to her. She nods. I turn back to Mindy and Glimmer, who are bickering viciously. "CUT IT OUT!" I scream. Both girls look at me in shock. I scowl at them. "God you two! What's more important, what type of shoes Mindy wears, or what it says on your dad's headstone?" I say. They stop bickering and look at me.

"Well, I just don't think she can wear converse at our dad's funeral. I mean, we want to dress in respect for him, right?" Glimmer argues. Mindy scoffs. "Dad wouldn't care what I wear! He'd only care that you want to wear six inch hooker heels to his funeral!" Mindy retorts.

I sigh, repositioning my arm in its sling so that it doesn't hurt anymore. After the car crash, Mindy and I had to be treated for some "minor" injuries. She has to wear bandages over her chest for six weeks because she had broken ribs that pierced her lungs and nearly killed her. Luckily, her ankle wasn't really broken, just twisted. And me? I just dislocated my shoulder, and I have to wear a sling on my left arm. We've made a great recovery so far.

As Glimmer and Mindy fight, I come up with a soulution they're bound to love. "Just wear whatever you want! Neither of you likes the other telling them what to do, so just wear whatever you choose. You should really be worried about what to put on his headstone." I exclaim.

They at first don't agree, making comments like, "But she wont wear something appropriate," and, "She'll dress like a slut!" I roll my eyes. Glimmer finally sighs and nods. "OK! Alright." Mindy mumbles, "Yeah, fine."

_At the funeral..._

_(sorry I skipped ahead a lot. I'm gonna start another new fanfic tonight, and I wanted to get the first chapter started tonight. Sorry)_

Mindy's POV

I step out of the long, black car, squinting as sunlight blinds me as I walk towards the crowds of people before me. In every movie, funeral scenes are gloomy and dark. Well, that's not true in real life; the weather doesn't reflect the way you feel, it makes it worse because its so sunny and cheery. Fuck the weather.

Glimmer and I finally agreed on what we'd wear. While she is walking around in a strapless black dress and high heels, Katniss and I are wearing suits, and ties. We thought it would look really cool, and it was the only thing that I would wear. I am NEVER wearing a skirt, or a dress. It's just so unpractical for battle.

I walk over to my place by daddy's coffin with tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. With a single tear running down my cheek, I tap the microphone and everyone looks my way.

"Well, um, hello, everyone," I say, pulling my note cards out of my jacket. "I'm Mindy Damon, and this is Glimmer Damon, Jared's daughters. We'll be making a speech today, in honor of our father."

Katniss gives me a thumbs up from the audience. Glimmer and I look at each other and I start off the speech.

"As you all may know, my dad, Jared Damon, was an awesome man, an excellent friend, and an amazing dad. Not honoring him today would be a mistake, considering the life he led, making everyone he knew happier than they were before they knew him.

He wasn't like any guy you would meet off the street, he wasn't normal, or boring, or average, but I think I liked that he wasn't like everyone else. He was original, and that was important to me.

My dad wasn't like every other dad. He treated me like I was more than just a little girl. He treated me like I was important, and as every daughter knows, the respect of your parents is one of the things you strive for; it was just so nice, knowing that my dad was proud of me. It was something every child had hoped for.

I know that my dad changed people's lives, he certainly changed mine. I can only hope that his legacy, the legacy of honor, and pride, and respect, doesn't die with him.

All there is left to say is, I love you daddy."

**I know this chapter was really short and really boring, it's just, I'm starting a new fanfic tonight, one that I'll write alongside this one, so I wanted to get in another chapter before I started. I'm not saying I won't write for this one anymore, or that I'll upload chapters less often, no, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying I'll have another fanfic for you guys pretty soon alongside this one. Anyway, I hoped you liked it, even though it sucked. Please review. See you next chapter! :)**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

**Hey everyone! Thanks for reading and reviewing my last chapter, even though I didn't like it all that much, I thought it was a bit short and the writing was sucky, but I'm happy that you guys liked it. Anyway, I got two new fanfics in the making, so that's some big news :). The second I upload one of them, I'll tell you guys. Anyway, I hope you like this one. Enjoy!**

Katniss's POV

After Mindy finishes her beautiful speech, I try and keep tears out of my eyes. Who knew that Mindy could be so powerful with words? I certainly didn't know. Everyone claps, and Mindy walks away from her place, crying. She walks up to me, wipes tears off her face, and asks in a small voice, "I sucked, didn't I?" Her voice breaks and I put my arms around her. "Mindy, your dad would have LOVED your speech." I reassure her. She shakes her head. "No he wouldn't! What I said seemed to only have made things harder on me!" She says, her voice thick with tears. "When your mom died, didn't you just feel...so...so shocked, and stupid? It's like, just when you thought they'd always be there for you, they die. It makes it worse when I think about it like that, because of all the people in my life, he was the last one I'd expect to die." she says.

I just nod. "I know, I know." I agree, being careful about what I say to her. Lately, she's just so...fragile, like a little, broken piece of glass. I feel so sorry for her, especially because Mindy hardly cries, and wouldn't cry at the death of a thousand people. She's usually just so strong, and powerful. Sometimes, I just wish I could be like her; trained, powerful, confident, excellent. That's why it hurts me to see her like this: because she's just so indestructable.

We both stand there hugging, in silence, neither of us wanting to say anything else to upset the other. For a few moments, that's all we do. Until, Prim comes up and taps Mindy on the shoulder, her braids flying in the sudden wind. Mindy breaks out of my hug and turns to Prim. My sweet little Prim opens her arms up to Mindy and Mindy wraps her in a hug, smiling. They break apart. Prim signs to me, 'tell Mindy I'm really sorry about what happened to her daddy.' Mindy just mumbles, "Um..what did she say?" I translate for her. Mindy smiles and asks, "How do I say thank you?"

I show her, and soon enough Prim is hugging her again. Prim leaves Mindy with a smile on her face. I nudge Mindy with my elbow. "Told you she could lift your spirits. She's got a gift for that sort of thing." Mindy nods in agreement. "Yeah, she really does." Again we stand in awkward silence, something that's been occurring a lot today. All of a sudden, lightning flashes across the sky and thunder cracks, loud enough to shake the ground. Sudden rain pours down, coming down hard and fast, soaking through our jackets.

"Well fuck, that was all of a sudden!" Mindy shouts to me over the downpour. We cover our heads and run over to the shaded portion of the cemetary.

By the time we reach it, we're drenched from the rain and freezing, down to our bones. Mindy laughs a little bit, watching the rain get heavier and heavier, making mud slide down the little hill we're standing on. "Wow." we both say with a little laugh. Maybe it's the sudden weather, or the little bit of laughter we had, but we just feel... different, at that moment. Empty, perhaps, is the way to describe it. Just sort of careless, meaningless. It's not the best feeling to have, but it's certainly not the worst.

Mindy turns to me and yells, "There's something I really, really, need to tell you!" I raise an eyebrow and brush a damp strand of hair away from my face. More thunder crackles and I jump a little bit. Mindy grabs my arm with the tightest grip ever and looks into my grey eyes with her teary green ones. "Like, I REALLY need to talk to you!" she shouts over the downpour. I look at her, concerned.

"Is something wrong?" I ask. A tear escapes from her eye and slides down her cheek. "Really, super, wrong!" She says, bursting into tears again. My face twists in confusion. She's NEVER this emotional, something really serious must be up. I wonder what it could be, what could be serious enough to make Mindy break down? Almost nothing. This is big.

She swallows and looks at me with a small, sad look. "I-I-... Um, I might be-" "Mindy!" someone shouts, cutting her off.

We look over to see Peeta hobbling up the hill on his crutches. Mindy holds up a finger as if to say, _one sec. _She walks away from me and joins Peeta down at the bottom of the hill.

The only thing I hear after that is Mindy shouting, "Just stay out of it!" She slaps Peeta, screams in frustration, and rejoins me up at the top. She walks over to me and immediately blurts out,

"I'm pregnant."

Peeta's POV

_The next day..._

"C'mon, pick up the phone...pick up the phone..." I say, mumbling into the mouth of the phone. For once (and probably the only time this will happen) Mindy picks up her phone, answering with a groggy, tired voice.

_"What?" _she drones, her annoyed voice sounding pained.

"Do you want to talk about it? Like at all?" I say.

When Mindy told me about the baby, I completley freaked out, being an idiot about it. I feel so stupid now, for getting so worked up about something we BOTH had caused. When she saw how stupid I was acting, she told me to forget and just stay out of it's life. But I wasn't going to do that. My baby deserves to have a father in his or her life.

_"I told you already. Just leave me and the baby alone, neither of us wants anything to do with you right now."_

"Mindy, come on, that's not fair."

_"I don't give a crap! I'm it's mother and I decide what goes in it's life. I've decided I want you to have no part in it!"_

"Well I'm his or her father, and I think I get a say too! Plus, do you know how hard it is to raise a baby all on your own, with no one by your side?"

_"First of all, I don't care who the crap you are, I'm carrying this thing. Second of all, I doubt you have any experience in taking care of a baby either Mr. Wise guy. And third of all, Katniss promised to help me, even move in with me if I needed that much help! So, I don't think you don't need to be involved in it."_

Mindy makes me so mad. It's just so wrong, not giving me an opportunity to be apart of my baby's life. I swear, I will fight for my right to be a father. She can't keep that from me.

"Mindy, listen to me-"

_"No, you listen to me. Stay away!"_

The line goes dead and I sigh, leaning back on my bed. No matter what she says, I will see my baby. Sure, she can take it to court, do whatever the hell she wants. But like I said, I will fight for a chance in it's life. All of a sudden there's a knock on my door. I yell, "Come in!"

Glimmer pops into my room, looking stunning, even for five in the morning. Every time I see her, I have to remind myself that she's the one who ended the only good thing I had in my life; Mindy. It's like, if I don't tell myself that, then I'll end up liking her all over again.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

She gives me a pouty smile and holds out her hand. "Oh don't worry about that. My phone's broken, can I use yours?" Dazed, I hand her my phone, so unaware of what she was to do next.

Mindy's POV

I walk into school feeling ready to punch something. I find Katniss at her locker, and spin her around so that she can face me. She shrugs. "What's wrong? Is the baby-" she starts. I scoff. "Oh, the baby's just fine. Did you check your facebook wall lately, by any chance?" I ask angrily. She shakes her head casually. "Well no but-" I cut her off again. "Look." I say, handing her my phone.

She holds it up so she can see what everyone's posted. She sees everything on there; all those people calling me a slut, a whore, and a junkie, everyone saying bad things about me being pregnant. Tears fill my eyes when I see them again and Katniss gasps. "Who did this?!" she demands.

"Peeta was the first one to post about it."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

**Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a couple days, I've just had a lot of homework to do :( . Anyway, I hope you like this new chapter. Please read and review. Enjoy!**

Mindy's POV

Katniss drops the phone and looks at me with wide eyes. "But...why would he...he was just being so supportive and all. I don't get it!" she exclaims. "Well, do you think I do?" I reply angrily. Katniss pulls me into a hug. "What are you gonna do? God, this must be awful...I'm really, really sorry Mindy." I roll my eyes. "Don't be," I say, clearing my throat and wiping the tears out of my eyes, "I'm not like you Katniss, no offense, but, I'm not the kind of person to go crazy over this."

She nods and looks away. "Yeah, I know. It's just-" The bell rings, cutting her off and forcing her to grab my wrist and pull me down the hall. I fight her off. "What the hell are you doing?" I say, stopping her. "Well, we're going to class." she replies. I scoff. "What do you mean, we? I don't go to class, remember?" She shakes her head. "Not today. You have to go and face these people before things get any worse."

I just laugh. "What? No! Don't you know me? One thing goes wrong and I start snapping some necks." I reply in disbelief. She grabs my wrist again. "Come on. You need to do this, and I promise, the minute something goes wrong, just give me a signal and I'll get you out of there, OK?" she asks. In her eyes, I can see she clearly wants me to do this, and why, I have no idea why. Seriously, Katniss would just let me go home, if she were acting right. Something's up.

"Katniss, why do you want me to do this, all of a sudden? You're the one that said, for the next nine months, it's OK if I stay home, because of the baby. Now you're saying I HAVE to go? Fine, I'll go, but if this thing inside me," I gesture towards the baby in my stomach, "gets hurt in combat, you're the only one to blame." Katniss rolls her eyes.

Since I found out I was pregnant, I've been trying and trying to feel motherly love for it. But honestly, the only thing I feel is...shock. I'm trying to find some upside to this, something to keep me from killing myself until it's born. Seriously, how unpractical would it be to have this thing in combat? If it died because of something I did wrong, oddly enough, I would never be able to live with it.

We walk into the class and all eyes turn to me. I break out of Katniss's grip, look straight ahead, and start walking to my seat. I sit down and fixate my gaze on the blackboard, which is covered in writing about some civil war or something (not that I'm paying attention to it). Glimmer walks into the class and I look down onto the desk. Even with everything that's gone right lately between me and Glimmer, she's turned back into an evil bitch. After Peeta started posting stuff about me, Glimmer immeadiatley had to comment on it.

_Glimmer Damon: LOL, wat a slut. That's wat u get wen u hook up with ur ex Mindy! _

Half the stuff she said didn't even make sense. I'll let you get away without reading all that nasty stuff she posted, at least for now.

Glimmer takes her seat next to her best friend, Cashmere, a girl just like Glimmer, because apparently what this school needs is another Glimmer. I just sit up straighter in my seat and wait for the teasing to start. I will not let people like Glimmer and Cashmere ruin my life just because of a couple of posts on facebook. _Aww, poor me, some person hiding behind a screen said mean things to my profile picture! _I don't even understand why I was crying about it anymore. Maybe it's just the hormones from the baby.

The lecture starts and I plug in my headphones, playing the song Make me wanna die, by the Pretty Reckless. Usually, I don't really listen to music, there's always been no time for that, but today, I need something to block out the sounds of this boring-ass class. That's pretty much the only reason I have music on my phone, to block people out.

_Take me, I'm Alive _

_never was a girl with a wicked mind _

_but everything looks better when_

_the sun goes down_

_I had everything, opportunites for eternity _

_where I could belong to the night_

_Your eyes, your eyes, I can see in your eyes, your eyes..._

_You make me wanna die_

_I'll never be good enough _

_You make me wanna die_

_And every thing you love_

_will burn up in the light_

_And everytime I look inside your eyes..._

_Make me wanna die_

_Taste me, drink my soul_

_Show me all the things that I shouldn't know..._

When the song finishes, I replay it about a thousand times, making sure I skip through all of the class. All of a sudden, Glimmer appears in front of my desk, and I pull out my headphones. "What?" I ask through clenched teeth. She flips her curly blond hair out of her face (as if to intimidate me, or something) and puts a hand on her hip. "So, how's the buisness going?" She asks cheerfully. I roll my eyes. "What buisness?" I ask at the same time that I realize what she meant.

She's calling me a whore.

I clench my fists and stand up in front of her. "Leave. NOW!" I demand. She laughs. "What's wrong, are you expecting a client soon? I should probably get out of your office!" The class bursts into laughter and I turn red with anger. "Glimmer Damon, get back in your seat!" The teacher says. Glimmer ignores her and goes back to me. "I heard that Peeta got the WHOLE night for free! I guess the only downside is that little goblin inside of you." The class laughs back again and Katniss appears at my side. "Come on Mindy, we're out of here." She says. I stay put, my feet glued to my place.

"What's wrong sis? Cat got your tongue? Or should I say, Peeta got your tongue?" Glimmer mocks me with. I turn even redder with anger.

The next thing I know, my fist connects with Glimmer's face and she falls to the ground.

Katniss's POV

Mindy's green eyes flare with hatred as she brings up her hand and connects it to Glimmer's face. Glimmer falls down, bringing a hand to her bloody nose. "You broke my nose!" she shrieks. Mindy ignores her, looking down at her bruised knuckles.

Glimmer's friends rush towards her as Mindy looks down at her in some sort of sick pleasure. I grab Mindy's arm, gripping tight enough to bruise her, and pull her out of the classroom before anything else can happen, or anyone else gets hurt. I pull Mindy down the hallway, and stop her at her locker so she can get her books out. "Mindy, snap out of it!" I say, snapping my fingers in front of her eyes. She pulls back, away from me "Okaaaaaay! Geez." she replies. She opens her locker and pulls her things out quickly. "Let's get out of here before campus police show up." She says.

We walk out of the school casually, acting like it's nothing that we're ditching school. It really is nothing for Mindy, considering she does it every day. I wonder what she does, I know she clearly doesn't sit around, watching T.V. or play video games. She's never told me, and I guess I'm Ok with that. Or at least I was. Now that she has the baby, I really have to watch what she does.

Mindy walks out into the parking lot, pulling out a pair of keys. I raise an eyebrow at her. She smiles, for the first time today. "You wanna know how I get to school?" I nod. I really don't know how Mindy gets to school. We're not allowed to have cars, and I've never seen her on the bus once, in the mornings for that matter. She leads me to the back of the parking lot and I gasp when I see the thing in front of us.

"Is that...yours?" I ask, astonished. Mindy laughs at my shock. "Damn straight."

What's in front of me is an AWESOME purple motorcycle. The motorcycle is shaped in a way that makes it look like it's from the future, and the amazing paint job gleams in every light.

"Want a ride?" Mindy asks. I nod without another doubt.

We hop on, she enters the key in and turns it to start to motorcycle. It hums to life and we start moving fast and smoothly. I laugh as my hair catches in the wind and whips in my face. Mindy laughs too. "I guess this is your first time being on a motorcycle!" she shouts over the wind. I just shout back, "Is it that obvious?"

I start to understand why seeing her bike (and riding it) make her so happy. The thrill of the wind whipping your hair, the way you can feel the speed as you whiz past everything, the approving looks you get as your ride by. It's just so electrifying, the whole thing.

All of a sudden, Mindy pulls over and hunches over on the sidewalk. I hop off the bike and run over to her. "Mindy! What's wrong?!"

She's only able to pull out two words.

"The baby."

**Thanks for reading! I would like to recognize one of my fans, Rubiksmaniac for giving me such awesome ideas, which will be shown during the next few chapters. Thanks to everyone else for reading, and reviewing. See you next chapter!**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

**Hello people of the internet! Just wanted to let you know that one of my new fanfics should be up tonight. I'll let you know when I upload it. Thanks for reading, please review. Enjoy!**

Katniss's POV

The slight humming and beeping of machines in the distance fill the awkward silence between Peeta and I. My gaze stays to the floor as Peeta tries and makes conversation between us, which I ignore. "What exactly...um...what happened? Did she-" Peeta starts to say. "It doesn't matter!" I exclaim, cutting him off. "Nothing matters right now except whether the baby or Mindy is alive or not."

Peeta slinks back down into the chair. "It's not my fault she ended up in the hospital because of this." he mutters. I ignore his comment and try and wait patiently for any news on Mindy's case. After all, what's the point of talking about the baby if it's dead anyway? There's honestly no point in that. I sit back, close my eyes, and try to get some rest. If something goes wrong, I know it will be a sleepless night for me, and especially Mindy.

"Katniss, look, I'm sorry." Peeta says. I snap my eyes open and look towards Peeta's direction angrily. "For what?" I ask, annoyed. He looks at me, willing to go on. "For every-"

"For what, Peeta, honestly? For hurting my best friend, then knocking her up and posting bad things about it on Facebook? Well, if you mean those things, it's a little too late to say sorry. " I snap.

Peeta shuts back up and shakes his head. "Look, I'm trying to apologize. What more do you want from me?" he demands. I roll my eyes. "Forget it, Mellark!" I exclaim. At that moment, before things can get any more awkward, Mindy's doctor shows up. Peeta and I both stand up at the same time, hopeful for news. Well, good news, anyway. The doctor sighs and says,"Which news do you want first, the good news, or the bad news?"

Peeta and I look at each other, then nod in some sort of unspoken agreement. "Good." We say at the exact same time. The doctor nods and checks his clipboard again for Mindy's status. _Hurry up! I need to know if they're alright! _I think to myself. He clears his throat. "Your friend is alive."

Both Peeta and I breathe a huge sigh of relief, and I feel as if a huge weight is lifted off of my chest, and two ton weights taken off my shoulders. Now that I know that Mindy's alive, I can breathe a little bit. Only a little, however, since there's still bad news. The doctor holds up a hand as if to stop Peeta and I from being excited, happy about this. I frown. "What is it?" I ask with a sigh. "Now, she's alive, after all, but not exactly well. This whole thing has taken quite a toll on her." He says. Another ton of weight replaces itself back on my shoulders. "Are you two ready for the bad news?"

I look at Peeta. "Are we?" I ask, unsure of that myself. He nods and says, "Ready when you are." We look at the doctor and wait for the tears to start to flow.

"The baby isn't going to make it. I'm sorry."

The weights on my shoulders have crashed down onto me, pulled me down, and brought me down twenty feet into the ground. I try and hold myself together, for Mindy's sake,wondering how she is taking the news. It wasn't like she wanted it, actually, but still. Maybe she actually felt some sort of attachment to it, like, _Well, I'm stuck with you for nine months, so I might as well get used to you _(sounding like something Mindy would be thinking). Nonetheless, it makes me sad to know that the poor baby inside Mindy is dead.

Peeta goes back to his seat and puts his head in his hands. For once, I allow myself to feel sorry for him, since he just lost his baby and all. I try and keep my voice steady as I ask, in a very small voice, "How's Mindy taking it?" The doctor shakes his head as he replies, "She doesn't know. She's awake now, would it be better if you guys told her instead of me?" I shrug. Mindy doesn't take bad news very well (well, I don't know just how bad this news would be for her) and even if this doesn't affect her very much, it would still be something, right? I have no idea.

I nod. "I guess. Well, maybe that will be better for her."

The doctor starts leading me over to the room where Mindy is, pulling me past, long hallways and down long corridors. Finally, we reach her room. I walk in slowly, not recognizing the sick looking girl before me.

Mindy's pale, very pale, except for the slightest color in her cheeks. Her blond hair looks limp and lifeless. Her eyes look vacant and dim. In other words, she looks terrible. When she sees me, her eyes light up a little bit and she forces the tiniest of smiles. "Hey you." she says, her voice scratchy and low. I wave and her and sit with her at the foot of her bed. "Hey."

I smile at her and she grips my hand, hard. "Wow, even when you look on the verge of death you can still break my hand in one squeeze." I say, her hand getting tighter. "Sorry," she mumbles, letting go of my hand, "How's the baby?"

My smile fades and Mindy raises an eyebrow. "Well?" She asks, her voice hoarser than before. I clear my throat and look away. "Well, um...the baby..." I trail off. Mindy grabs my shoulder and shakes me. "The baby's what?! Just spit it out, I can handle it!" she exclaims. I finally let the words burst out of me. "The baby's gonna die, Mindy, I'm sorry," I say, pulling her into a hug.

We sit there in silence for a couple of moments, as she takes in the news.

"It's fine." she says after what feels like hours. "I'm alright."

I pat her back as a couple of tears slide down her face. "I know, I know."

At that second, Peeta walks in, looking concerned. He raises an eyebrow, asking, _did you tell her? _I nod. Mindy breaks out of my hug when she sees Peeta. Of course, that's just perfect. Peeta just HAD to be the one thing to make this harder on Mindy, of course he did. Mindy scowls at him. "What do YOU want, Mellark?"

Peeta crosses his arms across his chest. "I came to see how my baby was doing. I think I have the right to know the life status of my baby." He says in a firm voice. Mindy ignores him.

"Well, I don't care. I told you-"

All of a sudden, Clove rushes in, looking like she ran here all the way from the institute. Now, I know what you're thinking; how did she get here, how did she know about Mindy? Well, I have no clue, so don't bother asking me. Clove walks up to me and grabs me by the wrist and pulls me up. "Clove!" I exclaim. She starts pulling me out of the doorway, breathing heavily. "No-time-to-explain." She says, taking a breath between each word.

"Wait, wait!" I shout. Clove stops and says, "Prim's gone, Katniss. I went to your apartment and she wasn't there. I checked everywhere."

Prim...gone...?

**Thanks for reading! My new story should be up tonight! I'll find a way to tell you the minute it's up. See you next chapter!**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

**Hey guys! I'm sorry, I feel like it's been forever. I've just had SO much homework, I was absent a day and I have a year's worth of work. Anyway, I'll update again soon, please read and review. Enjoy!**

Katniss's POV

My heart drops to my stomach and I freeze in my place. My little sister...my only sister...P-prim...she...she...

Prim was missing?

I feel a cry welling up in me, getting louder and louder, but the scream catches in my throat, unable to be released. I can't think, can't move. The idea of Prim, my only little sister, being gone, taken from me forever, was too much to handle. Tears welled up in my eyes but didn't spill. It was like I was frozen, too in shock to think straight, or to move, or breathe. Everything in me was too shocked to function.

"Katniss?" Mindy says, grabbing my wrist. I don't reply, it's like I can't get the words out, they're stuck in my throat, itching to be released, but it was too hard to get them out. Mindy snaps her fingers in front of my face, worry in her eyes. "Is she OK?" She says. Clove comes up and hugs me. "It might be a form of shock, or grief, or both." She states simply, no form of worry anywhere on her face. _Thanks Clove, for worrying about me and talking about me like I'm not even here. It means so much to me. _I think sarcastically, still unable to move. It's funny how, on the outside, I'm calm, cool, collected, and on the inside a million things are going through my head.

The next thing I know, I black out, hitting the hospital's cold stone floor, my head banging on the tile.

I wake up lying in a cold hospital bed, still unable to get a clear thought across. "She's awake." a harsh female voice said. I sit up, trying to remember the events of the last hour. Prim was... Prim was... where was she? I know something had happened with Prim...was she sick? "Why...why am I h-here?" I asked, stuttering a bit on the word 'here'. My head hurt horribly, making me sensitive to the lights in the room and just how loudly these people were speaking. Who was Prim again? I couldn't remember who she was, my friend, or cousin, or something...? Everything was all muddled in my head. I couldn't remember who any of these people were, or how i got here, or what this place was.

A girl with long blonde hair, sparkling green eyes, and the most out of place look of harshness in her eyes (which didn't fit with her sweet, almost childish face) walked up to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "How are you feeling, klutz?" she asked, with somewhat of a hint of meanness in her voice. The girl's face told me she always acted this way. I raise an eyebrow. "Well, I'm fine." I say casually to this stranger of a person. She gripped my shoulder a little tighter. "What's up with you?" she says, sparking a little bit of recognition in me. I know this girl's name! M-melissa? Missy? Mandy? I know it starts with an M.

She raises an eyebrow at me, like I'm dumb, or five years old. It irritates me. She walks away, her hands in the air. "Ok, she's crazy." The girl says. A girl with dark brown-black hair crosses her arms. "No, she's not." she states, her eyes narrowing at Mandy/Melissa/Missy/the blonde one. The blond girl cocks her head to the side. "Oh really? Ask her a question and decide for yourself." she sneers. God, this girl is mean. I wonder if she has any friends...am I her friend? I kind of think so, considering the way she looked at me _before _she thought I was crazy. AM I crazy? This is so confusing.

The brown haired girl walks toward me. "Katniss, are you feeling alright?" She asks in a sweet voice. I shrug. "I-i guess. I mean, I'm just so confused and all. This is crazy!" I say, referring to the way everything seemed- confusing and out of control. I was supposed to remember these people, right? Maybe I shouldn't ask them their names, they might assume I'm alright if I don't act strange. "I mean, I'm fine, totally I mean, with..." I say, trailing off, trying to remember the bad thing that had happened before I ended up here. Did something bad happen? This was frustrating.

"Everything that happened with Prim has gotten to you, hasn't it?" The blonde girl says, her voice taking on a sweet tone that seems out of place on her. I nod, remembering that something did happen with Prim, whoever that girl was. Why couldn't I remember anything? Was I in an accident or something? "Is she doing alright?" I ask curiously. The brown haired girl nervously chuckles. "Well, we don't know really, Katniss. Considering that she's lost..." the girl trails off. The blonde girl frowns, "Great time to bring that up, Clove." She snarls sarcastically. Brown haired girl- Clove, I guess- shakes her head. "I'm sorry alright!" she shouts. The blonde haired girl starts to say something when another person enters the room. This person is, for the first part, male, but his blond hair is short -duh- and his eyes, rather than a hypnotizing shade of green, are bluer than the sky. I don't know whether to smile, or sneer (like the blonde girl), or remain speechless. Something in my brain is telling me, _Ignore him! Ignore him! _But something else is going _Ooh, he's cute. _ I dismiss both of those thoughts. Maybe its best if I ignore him.

"How is she?" he asks, his voice calm and comforting. Great, more people talking about me like I'm not even here, wait, when were people talking about me? Ugh, I'm going to shoot myself if I don't start remembering stuff. The guy walks up to me. I think his name is Pete, Peter, Paul, or something. I'll just call him 'that guy', or 'the guy'. Or, I could actually ask these people their names...Well...

"Peter, right?" I ask, pointing at him. He raises an eyebrow at the same time the blonde girl says, "You've got to be shitting me." I roll my eyes. "Just answer the question!" I demand, anxious for answers. The guy looks taken aback, startled a bit. "Um...it's Peeta..." he mumbles. I laugh. "Of course it is." I say, sounding insane. Mandy/Missy/Melissa comes over. "OK, Kat. You've had your fun, now snap out of it!" she says, at first her voice sweet but turning wicked towards the end. She snaps her fingers in front of my face multiple times. "Is this something she does a lot?" I ask. Mandy (what I've decided to call her) slaps her forehead in dissaproval and puts her head in her hands. I notice that she's in a hospital gown, too. Wha-what...I'm so confused!

"Could someone tell me what's going on?" I ask as Clove and 'Mandy' start a quiet conversation. Something tells me that these two don't get along...

The girls start yelling and Peter walks over to them and mumbles something that I can't hear. They break apart, hands up in surrender, and walk out of the room, just as a doctor walks in. The doctor gives me a warm smile, and sits on my bedside. "Well, Ms. Everdeen, after that horrid bump on the head, I didn't think you would wake up!" she says, chuckling in relief. My hand flies to my head, brushing over a welt on the back side of my head. I wince as spikes of pain shoot through me. The doctor gently pulls my hand away. "I wouldn't touch it if I were you, you're going to be in a lot of pain for the next few days." she says. Confused, I ask, "What exactly um, happened, to me?"

"Well, you heard some news that upset you quite a bit, and you fainted. As you fell, you hit your head on the concrete and nearly got a concussion. Do you remember anything, your name, your grade, your family member's names?" She says, flashing lights in my eyes. I shake my head. "They tell me its Katniss. That's all I remember." I say. She shakes her head. "I feared this would happen. Looks like you banged your head harder than I thought." She says. I nod. "At first, I remembered this girl, her name...her name..." I trail off. The doctor just shakes her head. "Well, I need to talk to someone about your condition and form of treatment that we'll use on it. I'll be right back, feel free to drift off, it's what would help best with that nasty headache."

She walks out and I close my eyes, and slowly get to sleep.

**Mindy's POV**

_It's burning. Everything is on fire, and the flames illuminate the dark space. I sob harder than ever, wishing my dad was here. I yelp in pain as the flames reach my legs, burning the flesh beneath it and making me scream louder. "Daddy!" I scream, my shrill little girl voice echoing across the room. The flames only spread as the already tiny room gets smaller and smaller. The bright, hot, flames give off more smoke, choking me and threatening to fill my lungs and suffocate me. The flames danced across the floor, but seeming to go nowhere at the same time. As much as it hurt to say, my daddy couldn't help me now, and I'd have failed him. The whole family, our whole image, going up in ashes. The Damon family was going to be nothing any more, without me to one day take daddy's place._

_The luminescent sparks of heat crawled their way up to my chest, making me cry out in pain even louder. They were about to reach my heart, within the small room they had no where else to go. I was trying to stop crying, to help myself in some way, but I was paralyzed, good as dead. I closed my eyes and decided to accept my fate. Everything happens for a reason...but if that was true, why did daddy have to die?_

_All of a sudden the room opened up and my dad came bursting in. With a flick of his hand, magically, the flames were gone and I was able to move. The fire on me simmered down and died, and I was safe. "Daddy!" I cried, running into his arms. He hugged me tightly as I cried in his arms, murmuring, "You saved me, you saved me, I love you daddy, thank you so much!" My dad smiled down at me. "I love you too, Mindy." _

_I hug him and he puts an arm around my shoulder as we walk out of the terrifying, burnt room. "I'll ALWAYS be there for you, babydoll, always. I promise, I'll always be there to protect you..."_

I wake up, my eyes snapping open, my cheeks cold and clammy. _Another nightmare, _I think to myself. I shiver, my body covered in a cold sweat. I sigh, slamming my head back down on the pillow. I try and calm my breathing, peering out in the darkness for something I know isn't there. My dad.

It had been a week since the miscarriage and Katniss's accident. An entire seven days and she still calls me Mandy. Mandy! What kind of name is MANDY? Makes me sound like a hooker or something, or a stalker. It's just a lame name. Mindy, on the other hand, sounds like...I don't know, the name of a superhero's real identity? It was like I was a superhero- I helped the weak (Katniss) and fought the assholes off (Peeta). Ha, ha, me, a superhero? Yeah right. Too many muggers would die.

I get out of my warm bed and check the clock : 4:27 AM. Ugh, morning already? Looks like I've got school. They won't let Katniss go back until she gets her memory back, which, as you may have guessed, sucks for me. Well, what can I do? It's not like I can MAKE her come back to us. She doesn't even know my freaking name.

I crawl back into bed and sleep a little until I have to go to school.

When I get to school, the first thing I notice is that Glimmer's car is parked in the parking lot, and she's in it, making out with some guy. I stop cold once I notice that the guy she's with is Cato, who's going out with Clove... What the f# $! What an asshole! With a sudden realization, I then came up with a plan...

I took a photo of the two making out, and immeadiatly posted it on facebook, mainly for my own benefit, as payback for the pregnancy posts about me. Now, for Clove's benefit, I tag both Glimmer and Cato in the photo so Clove will immediately get a notification. Then, I sit back, and wait for the drama to start.

All of a sudden, Clove runs out of the school, and walks up to the car. "CATO!" She screeches. Cato looks her way, and I think I hear him say, "Shit!" He walks out of the car and walks up to Clove, but she slaps him and walks away, huffing angrily. She walks up to me, tears in her eyes. "Thanks, Mindy." she says awkwardly. I smile a little. "No problem, anything for..." I trail off, unsure of what to call her. "Anything for an ally." I finally say. We shake hands, in an unspoken pact of friendship, which I don't bother breaking off. We stand there, laughing at Glimmer freaking out as her boyfriend confronts her, yelling at her angrily. I take extra pleasure in that.

A car pulls up to the school and someone I don't think I've seen in a while pops out. Clove's jaw drops and she happily whispers,

"Annie?"


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

**Hello peoples! I know its been over a week :( but I'm on this new strict rule of only an hour of internet a day at home, and it's just getting a little harder to write..anyway, I WILL keep writing, just not so often, once or twice a week. Thanks for reading, please review. Enjoy!**

Clove's journal

_Dear journal, _

_2 weeks have passed and Katniss has only started to remember things bit by bit. She remembers Mindy now, she just thinks her name is Mandy, and she remembers me. On more difficult subjects, like prim (who is still missing…) , she doesn't remember anything. Its so frustrating. She's back at school, but she has trouble keeping up. I just hope she relapses into her old self again, I don't like this new, desperate, needy version of her, it's just so weird seeing her like this._

_Speaking of weird, you should see Annie! She's so confident, and beautiful, and strong...it's an odd new side of her that for some reason, Mindy doesn't trust. Pff, it's just Mindy, it's probably nothing, she tends to overreact. Mindy and I are what you would call...allies, of a sort. We've been getting along, and for the week that Katniss wasn't in school she hung out with Annie and I for a little, like the first couple of days, but then she started ditching school again. I feel sorry for her. From what I've been told, she's had a really mucked up life. But they're just rumors, I guess...Well, it's Mindy, you never know…_

_Back to Annie. She's been acting like a whole new person lately, and I don't like it, not at all. I mean, she's like…better. Is it messed up to say I like the crazy version of her better. Whatever hospital she was in really messed her up. It's like she's not even the same person. She's so...not Annie. She's not like an innocent child anymore, now she's like...a teenage girl. I mean, if you go to google and type in 'average teenage girl' Annie Cresta will be the result. I don't like this new person that she's become, its so weird. It's like I don't even know her anymore._

_Well, there isn't much else to tell. WAIT, heck yeah there is._

_Apparently, Glimmer's 'queen bee' status was really fake, like, 'we're only pretending we like you because we're scared you'll ruin our lives if we do otherwise, sincerly, everyone in school.' Everyone hated her, can you believe it? It's like they were planning to overthrow the queen of high school all along. Ha! She totally deserved that! Anyway, it's because of MINDY that this whole thing is happening to Glimmer. That pictures that she posted on facebook regarding Cato and Glimmer became SUPER famous, and got comments like this:_

_Scott Owens(Katniss's friend from art class): U R awesome for finally showing every1 what Glimmer is rly like, U R also brave for doing that…_

_Brooke Jennings (the next 'heir' to the 'queen bee throne'): LOL, what a whore. Nice job Mindy :D_

_The rest of the comments are also along those lines. Anyway, Mindy is like a freaking SUPERHERO now! Wow, I certainly NEVER would have guessed that she'd become the most popular girl in school, all because of a POST! _

_Anyway, I guess I'll stop writing now, there's nothing else to tell._

_-CLOVE-_

Katniss's POV  
_My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am 15 years old. My mother is dead and my sister is missing. I don't even remember them, isn't that sad?..._

I put the pen and piece of paper down and sigh, regretting agreeing to this dumb idea my doctor had, where I write down everything I remember every night. A million thoughts are running through my mind after I write that. It sucks, not knowing your own little sister's name and what your mother looked like. It makes me feel like I hardly knew them at all, when everyone tells me that me and my little sister were the closest people in the world. It's just so strange after all, having all these people telling you what your life was like, who you were before 'the accident', what your beliefs, likes and dislikes were. I hate it.

_My best friends are Mindy, Annie, and Clove. Annie moved away but came back. Clove lives down the hall from me. Mindy's dad just died..._

_I don't know much about my dad. I keep asking but no one seems to want to gives me any answers..._

I stop writing after that.

Who _is_ my dad?

**Thanks for reading! I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry. I just have a lot to do, so...and btw I know that was a TERRIBLE way to end a chapter...anyway, I hope you liked it and I'll see you next chapter.**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 22

**Hey guys! It's been more than a week, at least 10 days, I know, I know. I feel really bad about it too, but I will make it up. And, btw, today is a very special birthday it's -*drumroll, please*- rubiksmaniac's birthday! This particular reader reviews A LOT and has been really helpful to me, so, in return, I am making this extra special long chapter for her. Happy birthday rubiksmaniac! :) :) :) Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Katniss's POV

Who is my dad? No one has even dared to mention him since I've woken up from my 'accident', and even though some of my memories are coming back, I've not had one of him. Is that strange, that it feels like everyone wants to hide him from me? These days, I don't know what's what anymore, and I hate it. Somehow, I feel like SOMEONE is lying to me about something, but I don't know what; I remember Mindy, and Clove, and my mom, but not Annie or Prim. I want to have some memories of them really badly, but nothing's even coming up...I had SOME memory of them, but now, I feel as if it's wiped away somehow…

Annie is the sweet girl at my school who claims to be my friend...Prim is missing...Annie...Prim...Annie...Prim…? Who are they? My sister and my friend. My SISTER and my FRIEND. Why is this so hard? I need help. Weakly, I stand up, the legs of the cold metal chair I sit in wobbling to and fro as if the chair was dancing, and reach up for a scrapbook on the bookshelf in my room, where I am now. The old leather feels soft under my fingers as I tug it out from a shelf, disrupting the other books beside the scrapbook. Finally, with one gentle pull, it comes out from between the other books on the shelf and I sit down on my bed, letting the soft purple book rest on my lap. I crack open the soft, worn golden pages and peer inside the first page, carefully pulling two pages stuck together with jelly or something apart.

On the first page theres what looks like a family portrait. There are two adults (my parents?) standing next to each other behind two little girls (me and my sister?) so that you can only see half of them behind the girls. One of them has long, pretty blond hair that falls down to her waist and baby blue eyes. Her face looks young, maybe in late twenties or early thirties, and bright, so happy. Somehow that's not how I remember my mom. She's dressed in a soft blue dress and shiny black flats, her nicest outfit (I guess…). The man (dad?) has on a nice black polo and crisp jeans. His hair is dark and his eyes are grey, just like me. He's tall and looks strong, he looks like he works hard. The little girl in front of the mother looks just like her, her short hair blonde like her mother's and her eyes only a shade softer than mom's. She looks about three years old. The other girl, me, I guess, has long, dark hair, and soft grey eyes. Her bangs are pulled away from her face, but her dark hair falls to her shoulders gently. Her grey shirt brings out her eyes and her black skirt makes her legs look long. She's smiling, but barely, her lips are only twitching up a little bit at the corners, and her face is red.I wonder why she's not so happy. I certainly can't remember.

_The family portrait (prim at 3 years old and Katniss at 7), _the spidery writing under the picture reads.

All of a sudden the lights get a little bit brighter in my room and everything goes black.

"_Smile for the picture, OK, Kat?" daddy says. I nod with a small grin and reply, "Ok daddy. But you have to smile too." He smiles back at me. "You got it about we sing a little before we go?" he says.I nod happily. His face lights up and he starts to sing to me. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you…"_

"_Please don't take my sunshine away!" We finish the song, me in my sweet little girl voice and him in his rich, deeper one. _

"_Daddy, can we sing my other song now?" I ask, wanting to hear another song. His smile fades. "Mommy doesn't like hearing that song, Kit Kat." comes his sad reply. I think daddy wants to hear the song too. If he doesn't hear it, will it make him sad? Poor daddy! I'm sure mommy won't mind if it makes him happy. "But daddy, mommy's not here, and she won't like it if we're sad for the picture because we can't sing the song you taught me." I argue. He chuckles. "Alright, but if she gets mad, you explain that to her yourself." he jokes._

"_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where they strung up a man_

_they say murdered three_

_Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight_

_In the hanging tree_

_Are you are you_

_Coming to the tree _

_Where the dead man called out_

_For his love to flee_

_Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight_

_In hanging tree_

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where I told you to run _

_So we'd both be-"_

"_WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" mommy screamed, stopping our song. She slaps me, leaving a red mark on my face and making me cry. Why would mommy do this? She likes for me to sing, and that song isn't even BAD! "Ow mommy, you're hurting me!" I scream as he grips my arm hard. My daddy pulls her away from me gently. "Hun, please, don't do this to Kat. It was my fault I let her sing it." he argues. "I don't want to hear it!" she screams. She pulls me aside and slaps me hard again. I cry louder. "Wipe those tears off your face and go get in the car with your sister, NOW!" I pretend to walk out to the car and slam the door so she thinks I got in, but I don't. As the front door closes I hide behind it to try and hear what they're saying._

"_You're gonna stop teaching her those songs!" I hear mommy shout. Daddy sighs. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry." he says. "It's not just that! Every time I turn my back you're singing those god damn songs in my god damn house!" she replies. Mommy never says bad words. She must be really angry! "I'm not going to shield my daughters from good music! It's not a big deal!" daddy argues, raising his voice. I think they're gonna fight. They've been fighting a lot lately, and I don't like it because I can always hear them saying really nasty things to each other. "I want you out of this house, now!" mommy says. I hear something smash on the floor. "NO." daddy says sternly. "My daughters need a daddy and I don't care if you don't want me here!" _

_Mommy sneers at daddy, "Fine, Damn it you! During that photo shoot we're gonna act like a perfect fucking family and when we get back, you have one hour to shape up or I will kick you out!" I hear daddy sigh. "Fine."_

_I back away from the door and get in the car, crying. Daddy has to leave if he doesn't shape up! I don't want daddy to leave. Daddy and Prim are the only ones that love me. What would I do without them? Daddy is in the car before Mommy and he talks to me sweetly. "Kat, honey, daddy has to leave when we get home." he says, stroking my hair from the front seat. "NO! MOMMY CAN'T MAKE YOU! NO!" I scream angrily, waking my three year old sister. Daddy shushes me. "How did you-"_

_Mommy gets in the car, starts it, and takes off quickly. We get to the photo place at the mall and daddy carries Prim into the place as she screams her head off, not wanting her picture taken. "Give me my child, damn it." mommy says, taking Prim as we walk into the room where we'll take our pictures. The photographer puts us all into position, but I refuse to smile. Mommy can't make me do anything if she can't make daddy leave. She walks up to me after placing Prim gently on the soft carpeted floor. "Smile for the photographer Katty." she says, a fake smile plastered on her face. I shake my head. "NO!" I refuse. Her fake smile goes away. "Smile." she says sternly. "Grandma and Grandpa won't like the photo if you're not smiling."_

_I shake my head again, crossing my arms over my chest. "No!" I yell. She slaps me AGAIN, but harder than ever. "Smile." she says through clenched teeth. I bring my lips up into the tiniest of smiles just so she won't hit me again. "That's better." she smiles. The lights flash when the picture is taken, getting into my eyes and blinding me._

I wake up, still clutching the soft book in my arms. I try and steady my breathing as my shaking hand drops the book. That was...horrible. Was that really what life was like for me as a kid? Pain? Fear? What ever happened to my dad? Where is he? Did he really leave like mommy told him to? I mean, mother, the same mother who died?

"She had it out for her." a voice says.

I turn around, expecting to see someone behind me, but finding no one instead. "Looking for someone?" the voice says again. I turn around again but still, there's no one there. Well, forget it. I rest back on my bed, telling myself that it was only my imagination making me hear things. I crawl under the covers, jeans and all, and slowly fall asleep.

Mindy's POV

"DAD!"

I gasp and pull the covers back up over me and feel my wet cheeks making the covers damp. _It was just another nightmare, Mindy. No big deal…._ I tell myself. Every single night since my dad died, I've had these strange, vivid nightmares about dad and I. It's pretty much along the same lines every time - either dad or I is dying, and we either die or save each other. Usually, in these sick dreams, dad is the one dying and I'm the one that couldn't save him, making me feel worse and worse about dad, like there was something I could have done to save him. I feel so awful, when there's really no reason to. I'm stupid.

I push strands of greasy blonde hair out of my face and put my pillow over my face, making 3am darker than it should be. I hold it there and try to stop my useless crying. _Come on babydoll, no reason to cry, _my dad would say. But...my dad's not here. Sorry if I'm boring you with all this talk about my dad, it's just...he meant so much in my life. He's the one that taught me to fight, to use a gun, to be tough. If it weren't for him, I'd be an ordinary, stupid, shallow teenage girl, like Glimmer. I owe him so, so much. I owe him life. Well, technically, yeah, I guess I do.

Not wanting to fall asleep, I walk over to my living room and click on the TV to block out any noise that might be heard. Then, walking over to my room, I pull a gun out from under my bed, making sure I have a suppressor with it. I walk back over to my living room and start shooting a target I set up on my wall from about 10 feet away. I hit the bull's eye each time, but it's not that impressive with this close range. Just as I back up as far as I can and prepare to shoot, there's a faint knock on the door. I tuck the gun into my waistband and cover it with my shirt as I slowly walk to the front door. The person knocks, louder this time, and I impatiently sprint to the door. I open it to see Annie.

She smiles a huge, sweet (fake) smile at me. "Katniss locked me out of the room, so, can I stay here for the night?" she drones in that new, high pitched voice of hers. I nod reluctantly. "Um..ya, sure…" I trail off. She walks in to my room, looking at all the weapons. "Wow." is all she says. I smile and admire my dad's weapons. "Wow is right." I reply. She plunks down on the sofa, straightening herself out. "Well thanks again Mindy." she says after moments of awkward silence. "No problem…" I reply casually. Do I really want her sleeping here? She's acting really crazy lately, like WAY too sweet (even for Annie) and WAY too innocent (even for Annie). It's like watching a six year old going around in the scarred, damaged body of a sixteen year old. At least she doesn't scream anymore.

I walk back into my bedroom, take the gun out of my waistband and put it into the drawer of my night table, and snuggle up under the covers. I pull the blanket over my face and try and block out the screaming and thrashing around of the other patients.

Just when I doze off into some weird dream about a guy I've never even met, my phone starts buzzing, forcefully vibrating the whole bed. "Hello?" I say groggily. I'm shocked to hear Clove's voice on the other line. "Mindy." she says. "Yes?" I ask.

"**They've found Prim."**


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

**Hey guys! I feel like it's been freaking forever! I'm really sorry if you've tried to PM me or have posted a review, for some reason my stupid phone stopped receiving notifications from fanfiction. I'll fix that, no worries! Anyway, sorry again, I've just been busy and school has gotten in the way. If I could quit school, I would. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Mindy's POV**

I find myself muttering a quick, "let me call Katniss" and hanging up the phone. I pull a sweatshirt on and tug on some jeans. Tucking the little gun back in my pocket (just in case, you never know what we'll find out there, come on, its a sick world out there) I put on some converse and pull my blonde hair back into a ponytail. Finding Prim could be a HUGE turning point for Katniss. She might even go back to normal after this! Finally, I've been waiting too long for that to happen. I'm so tired of hanging around a girl who has the mentalities (and the memory) of a freaking stoner.

I rush out of my room, making sure I have extra ammo and my phone in my pocket. Silently, I pass Annie in the living room, being careful not to wake her up. Seriously, one of the last things I need right now is having Annie awake to make things worse. Sure, they've found Prim, but what if she's hurt, or sick, or...damaged in some way? You never know. Annie stirrs a little on the sofa but (thankfully) doesn't wake up. Thank God. Once I make my way past her, I go out the door, and walk down some halls until I get to Katniss's door and pound on it. _Open the door, Katniss…_ After a couple of minutes, she opens the door, looking annoyed. "Some people are trying to sleep, Mindy! What is it?"

I roll my eyes. "Oh come on, it's four AM. You have to wake up in a couple of hours anyway, so quit being a little bitch about nothing! They found Prim!" I exclaim. Something changes in Katniss's expression, I think I see a hint of recognition in there. She gasps. "Wait...really?" I roll my eyes again. "_Nooooooo. _Of course NOT. I woke you up in the middle of the night for a fucking joke, Katniss! What do you think?!" I say sarcastically, my voice rising. She looks startled. "Jesus Katniss. Let's just go get Clove."

"So...where do we go to pick her up, or something?" Katniss asks as we hop into a cab with Clove. "She's at…" she pauses, checking her text messages for an address, "hold on. They texted me the location." I sigh. "We don't have all night here, Clove." I say. Clove scowls. "Shut up. I got the address. She's at the police station on Newman street. Do you know where that is?" She asks the man driving the cab. He nods. "It's actually not to far from here. Could walk there if you wanted to." he replies. Clove hands him some money and we start driving. The cab is small and cramped, and I'm kind of feeling squished back here with Katniss and Clove, who aren't the most pleasant people to be with right now. Both of them are really pissed off at me, for God knows why, and I want to be with them right now as much as they want to be with me. Plus...the gun in my pocket is sticking into my skin, and its not very comfortable.

Soon enough, we get there, and I am the first one out of that tiny little car. I run up to the doors and walk into the police station, acting calm. Well, at least until I see who's sitting inside that police station. Peeta, with some guy I don't know. We both look at each other, and I can tell we are both thinking the same thing; what the hell are YOU doing here.

"Well, this is awkward…" the guy with Peeta says. I look away from them, tensing up a little. I always get so mad when I see Peeta, and it's bothering me so much. I wish I could just forget we even met sometimes. I groan. "What the hell are you doing here, Mellark?" I hiss at Peeta. He sighs. "You don't need to know, Damon." he says, mocking my tone. I cross my arms. Why does Peeta have to make me so damn mad? "What'd you do, Peeta? Steal a candy bar? Rob a toy store? Have an extreme temper tantrum?" I mock him. He scowls. "It's none of your buisness Mindy." he replies, not meeting my eyes.

"I bet your friend would tell me." I say. I look over at the guy next to him. He has dark hair and grey eyes, like Katniss. Jesus. They could be related. "Gale wouldn't tell you anything." Peeta replies. I look at his friend, Gale, I guess, again. "Wait. You're a senior, aren't you? What are you doing hanging out with HIM?" I say, gesturing towards Peeta. Gale smirks. "She's right, Peeta. Why am I hanging out with you?" Peeta groans. "Cause you can't make any other friends. Now shut up. Just ignore her." Gales face lights up. "Hey, I remember you! You're the creepy girl who hangs out with Katniss!" He exclaims. I smile wickedly. "That's me."

At that moment Katniss and Clove walk into the police station. "Mindy, no time to chat." Clove says, pulling me along. "Watch it Clove!" I exclaim as she accidently slams me into the wall, bruising my shoulder. We make our way to the front desk. "Yes, we're looking for Primrose Everdeen." Katniss says calmly. Does she remember, like fully remember? Something in her voice, call it desperation, makes me believe she remembers more than she's letting on.

The lady at the desk checks her computer."I'm sorry, but first of all, you need to be a parent or guardian in order to pick up Primrose, which means you need to be over the age of eighteen, which none of you look like. Second of all, she can't be picked up right now because she was transferred to the hospital for medical purposes. Come back tomorrow with an adult." she drones. Damn it! I should have brought my fake ID! Wait, she did say come back tomorrow… "Can I come back tomorrow with my ID? I ask in the sweetest and most mature voice I can muster up. The lady scans me from head to toe. "You're eighteen?" She asks suspiciously. I scoff. "I happen to be twenty one, diagnosed with a rare form of dwarfism that makes me look fifteen years old, for your information. Now, may I come back tomorrow with my ID?"

The lady sighs. "Are you a parent or guardian?"

I look over at Katniss and Clove. _Am I? _I mouth. They both nod. Oh, FINE, I guess I'll be her guardian.

"I'm her guardian." I say casually. The lady sighs again. "Fine, mam. You may come back tomorrow to get your daughter." She says. Once we leave the builidng, after I mockingly wave at Peeta, we all high five. "Thanks, Mindy. I owe you." Katniss says. I smile at her. "It's fine, we're Ok." And we all smile. "Guess we'll be back tomorrow."

**Katniss's POV**

Right when Mindy said they found Prim, the memories came rushing back like a flood fleeing away once the dam has been broken. And the dam was broken-the dam preventing me from

remembering my little sister and my broken family. I was happy, back and ready to greet Prim.

Once we get back to the hospital, which we technically snuck out of without permission, I get back to my room and click on the TV. There has to be something involving Prim. I mean, a girl goes missing for almost a month, they have to say SOMETHING. I'm just happy she's back. And ALIVE. Just knowing she was alright was enough to make me feel good.

I find the news channel, and what greets me isn't pretty. There are pictures from a bloody murder scene, grotesque, bloodied bodies litter the floor. I almost puke at the sight of it.

"_This morning on news channel five, we're featuring the story of ten men and five women that were brutally murdered last night at Palmer mall. Let's see what the police have to say."_

_(At the site of the murder)_

"_The only evidence we found were a blunt hammer and a small pocket knife, which clearly fits the scene in which most of the victims bones were snapped, heads bashed in, stabbed multiple times, and other things which are quite too graphic to include on this channel. The hammer and the knife are quite bloody and were sharpened and polished to the point of being more lethal than a hammer and knife should. All of the security cameras were busted in with the hammer, as we are lead to believe by the state of the cameras, so we have no footage whatsoever. The person was obviously wearing gloves, so no fingerprints were found either. The murderer must have planned this for some time, since the murder was carefully organized to leave us guessing. We have no clue as to why this has happened, or who the murderer is. We are encouraging viewers to be extremely careful, since it is almost certain that the murderer WILL strike again. Again, be careful, and please call the police station at the number on the screen if you see or know ANYTHING about the murderer."_

I shut off the TV, shuddering. What the heck? Just…WOW. Why? Who is this sick person? What the hell was that? Does this have something to do with Prim? Probably not, since she's alive, but still...just...what the hell? What person can murder fifteen people with only a hammer and a pocket knife?

I pull my phone out of my pocket and search, 'Palmer mall murders' to find out more about what the hell is going on, and what it may have to do with Prim. Fearful of what I might encounter, I reluctantly click on 'Images' and brace myself. I look through all of them, many of them so violently graphic that I wanted to turn away and puke. But I didn't. I NEED to know if this had anything to do with Prim, and find out who this person was if and only if Prim WAS involved. I have to know. Maybe the person had kidnapped her or something. Maybe Prim had had some sort of encounter with the person. Maybe the sick person hurt her. Whatever the case, I have to know.

One picture stood out to me. I click on 'view image larger' and wait for the new website to load. Once I get there, again and again I press zoom, zoom again, and zoom so closely I can count the tiles on the floor of the mall. On the ground, in plain sight, blindly unnoticed , is, of all things, a gun that looks just like Mindy's.


End file.
